Ferrari driver Felipe Massa’s performance in the 2011 Formula 1 season so far
Felipe Massa, who made his debut in Formula 1 racing with Sauber Petronas team in 2002, is currently driving for Ferrari.
He is still unable to finish his race on the podium in the 2011 Formula 1 season. Despite of that, he is making progress in terms of performance race-by-race.
The Brazilian joined Scuderia-Ferrari in 2006 and he is still driving for them in the sport.
The Maranello-based outfit driver successfully finished his 2011 winter test sessions on the different racetracks. After that, he took part in the first race of the ongoing season and ended up at the seventh place with a gap of 85.1 seconds from Red Bull’s
Sebastian Vettel, who was the winner of the Australian Grand Prix.
In the next 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix, Massa tried to close the gap to the top-runners and finished his race in the fifth spot for the team.
The 30-year-old driver was 15.8 seconds off the pace of Chinese Grand Prix winner, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton. Massa made a lot of struggle on the new 2011 Pirelli tyres and completed his Shanghai race at the sixth place after starting from the same position
on the opening grid.
The Ferrari driver was slow in the Turkish Grand Prix, as he had a close fight with Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi and Mercedes GP’s Michael Schumacher for a few laps of the race.
After fighting for his best finish on the grid, Massa finished his Istanbul race at the 11th place for the team. After the race, Massa blamed the unsupportive role of the hard tyres by Pirelli for his 11th place
finish at the Istanbul Park circuit.
Massa got below par results from the 2011 Spanish Grand Prix, as he retired from the race after completing 58 laps due to a gearbox issue in his 150° Italia car. After the Grand Prix, the team driver told the media that other than gearbox issue, he was struggling
on the hard tyres in the early stages of the race at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Massa again retired from the race in the Monaco Grand Prix due to an accident.
The Brazilian bounced back on the grid in the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix, where he made a lot of struggle in the wet after the red flag due to heavy rain. The qualifying round of the Canadian race weekend was the best one in the ongoing season, as he secured
his third place for Sunday’s race.
Massa finished his race at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in the sixth spot following his disappointing last couple of races of the season.
In the following Grand Prix, the team driver started his European race from the fifth place on the opening grid and ended up at the same place after putting all of his efforts during the race.
Massa retained his fifth position in the Silverstone race weekend. He started the British Grand Prix from the fourth place and scored decent points for the team after struggling on the sets of soft and medium tyres.
After the European and British races, he again finished his race in the fifth spot at the German racetrack.
In the Hungarian Grand Prix, Massa came at the sixth position after a fight with Paul di Resta of the Force India-Mercedes team.
Massa still wants to finish his race on the podium in the ongoing season. Let’s see whether he is able to do this in the remainder of the 2011 Formula 1 season.
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