Felipe Massa with Ferrari until 2012, Ferrari Hit 800 GP Landmark
Felipe Massa has got two more years with Ferrari, as his contract with the Italian team has been extended until the end of 2012. The Brazilian is currently struggling to match the pace of Fernando Alonso after he joined the team this year.
This puts an end to all the speculations about Mark Webber’s possible move to Ferrari. But as Red Bull bosses gave Webber a one-year extension, the road was clear for Massa to stay with the Ferrari team. Massa said that it was a matter of pride for him to continue his association with the team he regards as his second family.
Massa entered the Formula 1 at the beginning of 2002 season with the Sauber team, and ever since, has been associated with Ferrari. It is because the Sauber team was using Petronas-badged Ferrari engines. Massa said that during his whole career in Formula 1 he has been racing with engines made by Ferrari in Maranello.
Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said that Massa has been with Ferrari for almost a decade, and during this time he has grown as a man and as a driver. Both Ferrari and Massa have been through some very challenging times and a lot of great moments too. Stefano further added “(Ferrari) wanted to show proof of stability for the future, believing in the worth of a driver pairing (Massa and Spain’s Fernando Alonso) that is without equal in terms of talent, speed and its ability to work together for the good of the team." (AFP)
After joining the Ferrari team in 2006, the 29 year old Massa has competed in 69 Grand Prix. He has 11 wins, 15 positions and 12 fastest lapses to his credit. Massa suffered a bad accident last year when he was hit on the head by a spring from Rubens Barrichello's Brawn during the Hungarian Grand Prix. He stayed away from the circuit for the rest of last year’s season. During that time, his new teammate Fernando Alonso outshone him.
As the Canadian Grand Prix is just around the corner, Alonso is at fourth and Massa at seventh position in the drivers’ championship. Ferrari is 26 points behind the leaders McLaren in the constructors' championship.
Massa’s teammate Fernando Alonso was brought in to replace Kimi Raikkonen during this season. The Spaniard was quick to establish himself as a lead driver for Ferrari. But alongside his achievements, he has made blunders too, like a collision at the start of Australian Grand Prix, jumping the start in China and missing qualifying in Monaco after crashing during practice.
Despite all this, the 29-year-old Spaniard is only 14 points - with 25 for a race win - behind Mark Webber, the drivers' championship leader, while Massa is 26 points adrift from Mark Webber. Ferrari principal Stefano Domenicali said that he is very pleased with Massa and, in a show of confidence, he said he is convinced that he will be very strong by the end of this season.
It was a landmark achievement for Ferrari itself recently, when it was confirmed that Ferrari as a team has competed in 800 Grand Prix till the start of Turkish Grand Prix.
The Ferrari team was established as a racing division for the car manufacturer, known as the Scuderia Ferrari team, founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929. It initially became the racing team of Alfa Romeo, using the Alfa name initially for manufacturing the cars. Alfa Romeo management, in 1938, decided to enter car racing under its own name establishing the Alfa Corse organisation.
This new organisation adsorbed what had been Scuderia Ferrari in initial days. Enzo Ferrari was not happy about the decision and disagreed with this change in policy, which resulted in his departure from Alfa in 1939. When he left, he signed an agreement with Alfa Romeo and Alfa Corse that he will not enter motor sports under his own name for a period of four years.
The same year, Enzo Ferrari started work on Tipo 815 (eight cylinders, 1.5 L displacement) a racing car of his own.
Alberto Massimino designed Tipo 815, and that rightly makes it the first Ferrari car. During World War 2, racing was stopped temporarily, and this gave time to Enzo Ferrari to concentrate on an alternative use for his factory, doing machine tool work.
Anzo recruited many of his former Alfa colleagues as soon as the war ended and established a new Scuderia Ferrari, which would design and build its own cars.
This was the beginning of team Ferrari that is now in the hands of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. The team had many big names driving for them during those 800 races. It had many world champions and leaders on its steering wheels. So the shoulders of Felipe Massa hold an elaborate and star-studded history on them, and it is pretty sure from the words of Ferrari’s principal that he is worth all those praises. Let’s hope this extension give this star a new lease of confidence to regain his glory.
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