Felipe Massa: his path to success
Felipe Massa is a man whose driving is considered to be very dangerous for his rivals, either on or off the track. Although his fearless driving skills have left other drivers to keep a safe distance from him, his skills have also rewarded Massa with many titles in recent years. Coming from an Italian origin, he was born in São Paulo Brazil on the 25th April 1981. Having a built of 1.66m and weighing 60 kg, he has steady arms and seems to be carved for racing.
He was a prodigy driver from the beginning. He started his racing career with go carting when he was only 8 years old. He went on to learn professional racing in his home country before his debut in 1993 in the international circuit when he won the 3rd position. His fame took a turn for glory in 1998 when he made a move for Formula One racing with Chevrolet. In his first season, he showed everybody that his perilous and entertaining driving was too good to be missed. It seemed that nobody wanted to even drive like the way he did. He soon got popular amongst the F1 fraternity for his accuracy in taking a lead at turns. He won the fifth position in his first season for Formula One racing. While in the next race, he took the Constructor’s Championship by winning 3 out of the 10 races in the season.
The year 2000 proved to be another fruitful year for him as he turned to the Italian Formula Renault Series. He won the title in his debut race and went on to win the European F3000 Championship. In 2003, the year brought both setbacks and splendour for the young star. Firstly, he was granted an F1 test driver status with the Sauber Formula 1. He was a bit disappointing there, scoring just four points in the season with a best finish at 5th position. He was bitterly dissatisfied with his performance. He was later asked to star as a guest driver in Alfa Romeo in the European Touring Car Championship.
2002 gave him his first break in F1 racing. Indeed, fate had a plan in mind for him. Peter Sauber recommended Massa to join the Ferrari team as a guest star to develop his driving skills with Formula 1 rather than to race for a team. Massa spent a year with Ferrari and then returned to the Sauber team, signing in for two years till 2005. He showed steady progress during the races. At first, he partnered up with Giancarlo Fisichella in 2004 and then former World Champion Jacques Villeneuve in 2005. Massa scored 12 points for Sauber in 2004 and 11 in 2005. In 2005, the heightened competition on the track brought the best in Massa. He out-paced his teammate a number of times, eventually beating him in the drivers’ Championship.
As Rubens Barrichello left to join Honda, the Ferrari team had an opening. Massa inked the contract in 2006 and partnered with 7 times World Champion Michael Schumacher, which happened to be his last season at that time. Massa’s fame exploded in 2006. Under the shadows of the legendary Schumacher, he learned some new tricks and stamped out his old rag. He turned out as a refined driver than before as he established two victories, three pole positions and a fastest lap on Formula 1 tracks around the world. He ended the season with 80 points after finishing at third position. Fernando Alonso became the World Champion and teammate Michael Schumacher came in at second place.
In 2006, he also made his first Grand Prix victory in Turkey at Istanbul Park. Later on at the Brazilian Grand Prix at the Interlagos circuit, he snatched victory from the hands of Ayrton Senna. As Ayrton left the team in 2007, Massa got the team-lead status and Kimi Raikkonen became his new teammate. Raikkonen became the world champion at the end of the season. For Massa, the next few races were agonizingly close. He eventually finished fourth in the next season but the difference between him and Raikkonen was just 16 points.
During the season, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso tricked Massa on the track. However, he gave away his victory to his teammate on his home circuit so that Raikkonen could win the drivers’ championship. Massa received a lot of praise from the world wide racing community. In 2008, Massa performed like a bullet to say the least. He won six times and was well on his way to become a champion. However, the tables turned on him and Lewis Hamilton went ahead to beat him comprehensively.
The 2009 season proved to be another unfortunate season. He test-drove the F60 in a race, which was slow and untrustworthy. After final modifications, the car started to wield its true power. After a race or two, Massa was flying with it. However lady luck abandoned him once again as a spring from Rubens Barrichello’s car hit Massa on the head, leading to a nasty accident. He was taken to the hospital by air. The driver eventually recovered after the season got over. Massa partners Fernando Alonso this year along with Ferrari. Though he had a promising start with a win at the season opener in Bahrain, only he showed an average amount of consistency. However, who knows what would happen in the days to come. The season hasn’t ended yet and this might be his.
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