The 10 Best Moments Of Felipe Massa’s F1 Career

1. Strength in defeat

Undoubtedly the most memorable moment in Felipe Massa’s career was being crowned F1 champion in 2008 - for about 15 seconds. He went head-to-head for the title with Lewis Hamilton and stormed to victory in Brazil in stunning style.

But despite his win, an overtake on the slowing Timo Glock on the final lap clinched Lewis Hamilton the championship by just one point. The result was painful for Massa but the most striking thing about it was how impressive he was in defeat - the scenes on the podium were emotional and dignified, winning him thousands of fans.

2. A special first win

Winning your first race is a pretty big achievement in F1 and you want to do it in style. Massa did just that at the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix. It wasn’t the most exciting race for Massa but, in his maiden season with Ferrari, he put in a beautiful drive to victory from pole position, well clear of the battling Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher.

Massa complained during the red flagged 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix about not being able to see through his visor. What was his engineer Rob Smedley’s response? “Felipe baby, stay cool.” It’s safe to say it remains one of the most memorable F1 radio conversations in recent history!

4. Bahrain domination

Arguably one of his most dominant victories in F1 was at the 2008 Bahrain Grand Prix. Massa lined up in second place alongside Robert Kubica but stormed into the lead at the start and didn’t look back. His team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was the closest threat but Massa was cool under pressure, winning by 3.3 seconds.

Massa and Monza have always been a pretty good combination and the 2015 race gave us one of the best radio snippets of the year when he said he was “too old for that” after an intense battle for third place with Williams team-mate Valtteri Bottas in the closing laps of the Italian GP, in which he came out on top.

6. A classy return

The 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix was Massa’s first race back after his horrible accident at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, when a lose spring hit him in the helmet during qualifying. He qualified in second place, alongside his new team-mate Fernando Alonso. Despite falling behind the eventual race-winning Alonso, he drove well to finish second.

7. Back on the podium

There was something special about the Tifosi cheering on Massa’s third place at the 2014 Italian Grand Prix, despite the Brazilian no longer driving for Ferrari. It remains one of his best races for Williams - getting the better of Bottas to finish on the podium for the first time in over a year.

The 2010 German Grand Prix didn’t yield the result Massa wanted, but his performance as a whole deserves to be mentioned because he did almost everything right. He had a great start to move into the lead and looked in control, only to be (famously) told “Felipe, Fernando is faster than you”. He was the team player and let Alonso through but it really should’ve been his victory.

It’s always nice to see drivers getting along in the F1 paddock and last year we saw a cheeky prank battle between Massa and Daniel Ricciardo, which they gave us a glimpse of on social media. The rivalry continued when Ricciardo battled Massa’s son Filipinho in a Crazy Kart race - the result isn’t what we expected!

10. Home advantage

Massa has fond memories of racing on home soil in Brazil, despite it being the scene of his title disappointment in 2008. Two years earlier he took a straight forward win from pole position. But it proved to be a hugely important one for his career, as he became the first Brazilian to win a home race since Ayrton Senna in 1993.

Read more about Massa’s retirement from Formula 1 right here. Thanks for all the good times, Felipe! F1 will miss you!