Massa : Scored his first career podium at the Nürburgring

Felipe Massa (born April 25, 1981) is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver, currently employed by the Ferrari team. He is under contract to race for Ferrari until the end of the 2010 season.

Massa, a Brazilian whose grandfather came to Brazil from the city of Cerignola, Italy, was born in São Paulo, Brazil. Massa began karting when he was 8 years old, finishing fourth in his first season. He continued in national and international championships for 7 years, and in 1998 he moved into Formula Chevrolet, finishing the Brazilian championship in fifth. In the next season, he won 3 of the 10 races and took the championship. In 2000, he moved to Europe to compete in the Italian Formula Renault series, winning both it and the European Formula Renault championship in the same year.

Whilst having the opportunity to move into Formula 3, he opted instead for the Formula 3000 Euro-Series, and was dominant, winning 6 of the 8 races to take the championship. He was offered an F1 test with the Sauber team, who promptly signed him for 2002. In the meantime he drove for Alfa Romeo in the European Touring Car Championship as a guest driver.

Felipe Massa got a good start at Ferrari, qualifying second at the opening race in Bahrain, and came from 21st position to 5th in Malaysia, beating teammate Michael Schumacher, who'd started from 14th. However, in Bahrain, in both Saturday practice and the race, he seemed to resume his tendency to spin, narrowly missing eventual winner Fernando Alonso in the race. He kept up his reputation as being a bit on the wild side at the Australian GP when he crashed his Ferrari in qualifying, and then collided with Christian Klien and Nico Rosberg at the first corner of the race.

However, Massa scored his first career podium at the Nürburgring, finishing third, behind Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso. He also set the fastest lap at Barcelona in 2006. Massa achieved four more podium finishes in 2006, in the USA, France and Germany and took his first F1 pole position and his first F1 win at the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix, at the Istanbul Park circuit. His future position at Ferrari was secured when Michael Schumacher announced on 10 September 2006, that he would retire from F1 at the end of the 2006 season. On October 22, Felipe Massa won his home grand prix at the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix, marking the first time a Brazilian driver won at Interlagos since Ayrton Senna in 1993. The Brazilian eventually finished the season third with 80 points, behind world champion Fernando Alonso and Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher.Massa won his first race of 2007 at Bahrain.

Massa was black flagged in the Canadian Grand Prix for leaving the pit lane while the red light was showing and finished on the podium behind Lewis Hamilton and Alonso in the United States Grand Prix. At the French Grand Prix, he led for most of the race before losing first place to teammate Kimi Räikkönen during the final round of pitstops. Massa later blamed heavy traffic for losing the lead. He qualified in fourth place for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, but on the first parade lap his car stalled, and he was forced to start in 21st position from the pit lane. However, he was able to move through the field, eventually finishing in fifth place behind Robert Kubica.

At the European Grand Prix he took third place in the qualifying session while his teammate Kimi Räikkönen secured pole position. Massa finished second in the race, after Fernando Alonso passed him with 5 laps remaining. After the race, when Massa came to congratulate Alonso for winning the race and Alonso expressed dissatisfaction at Massa's aggressive attempt to avoid being overtaken. This discussion led to a verbal dispute between the two drivers.

Massa won the 2007 Turkish Grand Prix, which was his second win at the circuit. Fellow Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen finished second and Fernando Alonso came third.

Felipe's chances for the 2007 Championship took a downfall following the Turkish Grand Prix, with a retirement due to suspension failure on lap 10 of the Italian Grand Prix. He did bounce back for a second place finish in Belgium behind team mate Kimi Räikkönen where he set the fastest lap, but a disaster Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji saw him finish 6th, almost 50 seconds behind race winner Lewis Hamilton.

After the Fuji race, Massa could no longer win the World Championship, but managed another fastest lap and podium with 3rd place at the Chinese Grand Prix.

On 24 August 2007, Felipe Massa stated that he is a fan of Fenerbahçe . Massa said: "Zico was idol of my childhood, Roberto Carlos is my best friend. I am a Fenerbahçe fan, because it is just like Brazilian team. I love Turkey, as I won my first championship race in Turkey, it has special value for me."