There are many drivers in Formula 1 that are just lovable in every way. One of those drivers is Brazilian Felipe Massa🇧🇷. He has 269 starts, 11 wins, 41 podiums, and 16 pole positions. He has raced for Sauber, Ferrari, and Williams. Many remember his career best season, 2008 but it was also remembered as a heartbreaker for him when he lost the world championship to Lewis Hamilton. In Australia🇦🇺 things did not start off well for Felipe from a first lap spin damaging his front wing, getting together with David Coulthard🇬🇧, and engine problems being the final nail in the coffin that was a race to forget. In Malaysia🇲🇾 Massa would start on pole and lead the first 16 laps but lost the lead to last season's world champion Kimi Raikkonen🇫🇮 his teammate. But then Felipe spins off into the gravel trap and another DNF. With the first two races not scoring points and after seeing how close the championship was 1 year ago Felipe Massa and Ferrari needs to get their act together. They would do that in Bahrain🇧🇭 with Felipe and Kimi starting 2nd and 4th. Robert Kubica🇵🇱 would start on pole for BMW Sauber while championship leader Lewis Hamilton🇬🇧 starting 3rd but would lose 8 places before turn 1 due to a bad start. Lewis would also hit the back of Renault's Fernando Alonso🇪🇸. This would make the Brit lose lots of his front wing. He would officially lose his wing completely after hitting the rear of Alonso car. Meanwhile Massa would but his doubts to bed with a victory at Bahrain. Round 4 at Spain🇪🇸 would see Massa start 3rd but would get to 2nd after getting past Fernando Alonso who nearly wrecked on the formation lap. The saftey car would come out after the Force India of Adrian Sutil🇩🇪 and Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel🇩🇪 collided. His teammate Sebastian Bourdais 🇫🇷 and Nelson Piquet Jr🇧🇷 would retire after colliding with one another. Massa would pit as well as Hamilton and Raikkonen but McLaren's Hekki Kovalainen🇫🇮 would try to pit but in turn 9 lost a tire in a nutshell from a suspension faliure. The midfield would take advantage of pitting like Honda's Rubens Barachello🇧🇷 but would strangely appear to lose his front wing right after he pitted. He'd later retire. Nick Heidfeld 🇩🇪 would be forced to take a 10 second stop go penalty for pitting too soon under the saftey car but he had to pit because he nearly ran out of gas. Alonso's hometown race would end in retirement from his engine giving up the ghost. The Spanish grand prix would be the last race for the Super Aguri F1 team who have to shut down due to financial difficulties. A tough break for Takuma Sato🇯🇵 and Anthony Davidson🇬🇧 cause this would end up being the last race of their F1 careers. At least for Sato he'd continue racing in the Verizon IndyCar series. Davidson would go on to broadcast F1 though to this day. Nico Rosberg's🇩🇪 Toyota powered Williams would have an engine faliure at lap 41 ending the German's day. But through it all Kimi Raikkonen wins the Spanish grand prix with Massa 2nd and Hamilton 3rd. Massa would be 4th in the championship 11 points back behind his championship leading teammate. Next up was Istanbul Park aka the Turkish grand prix🇹🇷 one of Massa's favorite racetracks with 2 pole positions and race wins, so it was key for the Brazilian to gain some momentum. Well he got it with his 3rd pole in a row. He'd get away brilliantly from the chasing pack but the saftey car comes out from a first lap wreck from Giancarlo Fisichella🇮🇹 in the Force India and Kazuki Nakajima🇯🇵 Toyota powered Williams Vettel also had a flat tire and Sutil needed a new front wing. And the restart comes and Hekki Kovalainen has a flat tire and pits. So after his scary wreck luck abandons the Finn once again. But Felipe now is being pressured by Hamilton but Massa started on the soft options while Hamilton is on the harder prime tires so the Ferrari has the advantage. But lap 12 Hamilton would close within a second. Lap 16 Hamilton pits for another set of prime tires While 3 laps later Massa pits for option tires and keeps ahead of the McLaren. But by lap 24 on the backstretch and into turn 12 Hamilton gets passed Massa and lap 31 and Massa is 7 and a half seconds behind the Brit but all isn't lost for Massa cause Hamilton was fueled a lot lighter than Massa so it is on question that Lewis might be doing 3 stops to Massa's 2 well with 26 laps to go Mclaren fits Hamilton with ANOTHER set of prime tires and he has to put the option tires on and since he wasn't even fueled enough to go the distance confirms Hamilton is on a 3 stop strategy. So a temporary threat was McLaren to Ferrari's Felipe Massa who wins for the 3rd year in a row at Turkey establishing himself as the Istanbul Park master. 3 pole positions 3 race wins for Ferrari. This gave Ferrari the lead in the constructors championship and put Massa tied for second in the drivers championship with Lewis Hamilton 7 points behind Kimi Raikkonen. Now was Monaco🇮🇩 and the sun was shining on Felipe as he puts his Ferrari on provisional pole but Sunday the rain would fall on the streets of Monte Carlo meaning everyone starts on intermediates. But Massa would escape Hamilton and Raikkonen at the start. But the conditions would be tricky. Monaco would probably be the last race anyone wants to do in the wet the track is tough enough to do in the dry but in the wet will definitely show the driver's skill but Hekki Kovalainen will definitely need to up his A game after stalling his car on the grid from a technical glitch meant he'd start last in the pits. Honda's Jenson Button🇬🇧 and Rubens Barachello🇧🇷 made contact leaving Button to pit for a new front wing on the first lap. Nico Rosberg also damaged his front wing and lap 4 Timo Glock🇩🇪 spun out of the last corner and broke bis front wing and 2 laps later Hamilton just taps the wall with his right rear tire puncturing it forcing him to go back to the pits. But luckily he rejoined 5th cause the leaders were in another zip code. He'd later be up to 4th after Alonso just taps the wall in turn 3 flattening HIS right rear tire and now in the same corner David Coulthard wrecks his Red Bull and Sebastian Bourdais hits the Red Bull in the rear putting both of them out of the race and also brings out a saftey car. Massa would pull away at the start but Kimi Raikkonen would have to serve a drive through penalty for not having his tires fitted before the 3 minute signal before the race began. This is a rule made for saftey reasons so all the teams can ensure they don't get killed. Anyway back to the racing Alonso on the full wets trying to get past Nick Heidfeld's BMW Sauber and into the hairpin they go and Heidfeld goes around! The German gets going even though he kinda runs over and damages his front wing and it causes a traffic jam. Lap 15 Things get tougher for Ferrari when Massa loses control of the car in turn 1 losing the lead to Robert Kubica. The track is begging to get faster and a dry line is starting to form Felipe regains the lead after Kubica pits for intermediates but Kimi would go off into turn 1 damaging his front wing at lap 26 the next lap he'd replace it and get new intermediates so it isn't time for slicks yet. Lap 32 Massa pits for intermediates as the track is still not dry enough for dry tires. Lap 38 comes and more rain is expected to come in 15 as Timo Glock spins and hits the wall into turn 5 but is able to continue. The lap times continue to get faster and lap 45 Alonso pits for dry tires but loses control in turn 15 and 16. A couple of laps later his teammate pits for slicks but gets in the wall in turn 1 putting the Brazilian out of the race. Webber also pits for drys as Alonso is not on the pace you'd expect for a dry lap time so it's STILL not dry enough for slicks. But now Glock, Kovalainen and Button put on the dry tires and the times are oh so close as Alonso is now getting faster but if you get offline is trouble as Glock and Webber found out and with 25 to go Kubica pits for dry tires as well as Sutil and Hamilton followed by Massa 3 laps later and it loses him 2nd place to Kubica. So everyone and everything is calming down as the closing phase approaches as with 17 laps to go Nico Rosberg crashed his Williams just before turn 15 and 16 bringing out the saftey car. The race then restarts as the 2 hour time limit approaches with 11 minutes to go and a tough break comes for Force India as Adrian Sutil running 4th going into the turn 10-11 chicane gets hit from behind by Kimi Raikkonen who lost his Ferrari under braking and the German is forced to retire. But through it all Massa would claim a podium in 3rd place behind Robert Kubica and Lewis Hamilton who battled back from a puncture to win the Monaco grand prix. While true this race might not be the best from Felipe he is now 4 points behind Lewis Hamilton in 3rd place so 1 third of the season is complete as next up is Canada🇨🇦 when Massa needs another good performance to continue to close the championship gap. Well it would be even more challenging as bits of the track would need to be repaired after the track would be coming apart so it is recommended to not use the apex of turn 2,7 and 10. As well as a chance of rain so ot will be interesting as Massa will be starting in 6th. He would remain 6th in the first stint but a brake problem on Sutil's car brings out the saftey car. So lap 19 most of the field pits. Race leader Hamilton will come out behind Kimi Raikkonen and Robert Kubica but they stop at the end of the pits and Hamilton hits the back of Kimi Raikkonen! And Lewis gets rammed by Nico Rosberg's Williams. The German continues but Raikkonen and Hamilton are out of the race because Kimi and Robert waited at the end of pit road for the light to turn green but Hamilton and Rosberg were unaware of it! This completely shuffled the running order as Heidfeld leads, Barachello 2nd Kazuki Nakajima 3rd Mark Webber🇦🇺 4th David Coulthard 5th Jarno Trulli🇮🇹 6th Timo Glock🇩🇪 7th and Giancarlo Fisichella🇮🇹 8th completing the points. Sebastian Vettel is 9th and the first car off the pit lane is Robert Kubica 10th and Massa is 12th but the Brazilian pits again cause his car wasn't fueled the first time in so he is now dead last but he has to keep focus as the two drivers ahead in the championship are out of the race. He nearly joined them as he JUST misses Nelson Piquet Jr who spun out and nearly reversed into the Ferrari. But Felipe wasn't slowed down as just before halfway he was trying to get past Mark Webber's Red Bull but overdrove turn 10 losing more time. Yet he would get by him eventually. And as the drivers who have not stopped yet come inti the pits and Felipe is now 6th with the closing stages approaching and ahead of him are Rubens Barachello and Hekki Kovalainen and into turn 10 he gets by both of them to get into 4th place. But Giancarlo Fisichella wrecks out and Ferrari think a saftey car will be brought out so Felipe pits also for fuel. 9 laps to go before the final chicane Massa passes Barachello for 6th and with 3 to go he gets by Jarno Trulli to finish 5th. Well he got by Hamilton and Raikkonen in the championship but is still 2nd to BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica who won the race. Now heading to France🇫🇷 he would hope to have a better race to take control of the championship fight. He would start 2nd behind Kimi Raikkonen and would spend the first stint behind but Kimi's engine is losing power. It is a exhaust problem and Massa goes on to the lead and eventually the win. He lost a win at this track last year to Raikkonen but this year he won out against Kimi. This win gave the Brazilian the points lead 2 points ahead of Robert Kubica. The first half of the F1 season is nearly over as we head to Britain🇬🇧. But it would not be easy for Massa as a ceased wheel nut would stop him from making his final run in qualifying meaning he'd start 9th. And another variable to throw in this race is mother nature as it would rain at the start meaning that the field would pick intermediate tires. At the start Mark Webber would spin after turn 6. Massa would get up to 7th before the first lap is over but Felipe is around in sector 3! This would force him to join Webber at the rear of the field as Kazuki Nakajima went off as well and David Coulthard in his final F1 season spins with Sebastian Vettel and are out of the race! And a couple of laps later and Massa is around again at the last corner! Well this race is already starting to be eventful. Was it a mistake to start on inters? Well Hamilton is making good use of them getting by his teammate Hekki Kovalainen to get the lead. The falling Finn isn't the Finn Hekki wants to be after spinning in the middle sector on lap 9 losing 2nd to the defending champion Kimi Raikkonen. Lap 11 Force India's Adrian Sutil and Toro Rosso's Sebastian Bourdais were racing for 13th but for Sutil it would end badly as he would just lose control of his car under braking catching a little bit of air in his spin and retires from the race. Now Massa is in hot pursuit trying to catch Nico Rosberg in the Williams and the lone Force India left Giancarlo Fisichella. The Brazilian would get past Rosberg and at lap 17 would pass the Force India. Lap 19 Kovalainen begins the first set of pit stops. 1 lap later Alonso pits for fuel only. Raikkonen takes fuel only his teammate Felipe Massa takes fuel only also. The leader Hamilton takes fresh tires. There is a strategy game going as the fuel only people have done it in anticipation of a light rain shower. The rain has returned and Nick Heidfeld who took tires hets by Alonso who took fuel only and Glock who has yet to stop like taking candy from a baby it was so easy. The Ferraris were struggling with their tires because they didn't change them they are 5 seconds slower than everyone else. Massa gets pit a lap down by Hamilton and Raikkonen is gonna lose 2nd to his compatriot Hekki Kovalainen. And Nick Heidfeld sneaks by both of them! Wow nice move by the German. Not so nice moves for Giancarlo Fisichella as he loses control of his car and spins into retirement. After halfway Raikkonen finally pits for fresh tires but Massa has pitted for tires which put him in LAST place. And things are getting even more interesting as Kubica gets by Kovalainen for a podium place. But the Finn gets his McLaren to pit for more intermediates. But is that a mistake? Because the rain is intensifying as Kubica just went wide in the last corner and Timo Glock just did a donut or two in the last sector. Honda's Rubens Barachello and Jenson Button pit for full wet tires with 24 laps to go but there was a problem with Ruben's fuel rig so the Brazilian has to stop again. But unfortunately for Renault Nelson Piquet Jr is stopped permanently in the gravel before he can get to the pits. But it seems like everyone is struggling as Hamilton cuts the track a little bit but still keeps going and Robert Kubica also goes off but is still in the race. And Felipe Massa's race just can't get any worse, he aquaplained off the track after turn 1 and nearly ran over a hare so he about killed wildlife but both are A-OK. Rubens Barachello is flying on his full wet tires getting his lap back from Hamilton and Ferrari just can't catch a break today can they? Kimi Raikkonen spins on his worn tires. At this point Martin Brundle is thinking "Get the full wets on!" But Hamilton pits for intermediates followed by Heidfeld and Kubica in the BMW cars. And Kimi Raikkonen is around AGAIN. This time on the pit straight. Mark Webber is around. Fernando Alonso even was asking for a saftey car. But the Renault pit wall said no saftey car is needed but the Spainard says it's near impossible to keep the car in a straight line. You'd think people would get the full wets of people are spinning left and right but people are staying on inters thinking the rain will stop which it has but the track is SOAKED and Barachello is FLYING on the full wets passing Alonso like he was down a cylinder into 4th place and Robert Kubica is out of the race with 20 laps to go in the gravel which has captured so many cars this race! And Nico Rosberg on full wets damages his front wing against Timo Glock's intermediate Toyota. Jenson Button goes off and out of the race! Good grief a full wet car goes off and out of the race and there is STILL 18 laps to go! Timo Glock does a pirouette and Barachello is still on the move he easily gets passed Jarno Trulli. Toyota gives Glock intermediates as Hamilton is somehow making them work but Barachello is making the full wets work even better. Now with 14 laps to go Honda pits Rubens for intermediates and now he can go to the end of the race. The end can't come faster for Bourdais as he spins around and loses time to his rivals. Massa definitely wants the race to end a horrific afternoon. Mark Webber's chance for points are ruined after starting on the front row. As Trulli gets intermediates trying to obtain as much grip as possible. Kovalainen loses 2 places to Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen. This can be an amazing recovery after everything Kimi has been through. Massa though can't say the same as he would spin for the 5th time in the race. 7 laps to go and Raikkonen gets 4th place for Fernando Alonso and on the penultimate lap Hekki Kovalainen puts his McLaren around Alonso and Lewis Hamilton puts his McLaren across the finish line first after an amazing drive through some of the most toughest weather anyone has ever done Hamilton deserves this win, Heidfeld and Barachello deserve their podiums and Raikkonen Kovalainen, Alonso, Trulli, and Kazuki Nakajima all deserve their points finishes. Congratulations to ALL of them in this race. After ALL of that the championship battle is heating up as Hamilton, Massa, and Raikkonen are in a 3 way tie for the lead and Kubica is on 2 points back in 4th going to Germany🇩🇪! While the Silverstone race provided a classic race it's a race Massa wants to forget and needs to succeed at Germany to get the championship lead back. He would start 2nd behind Lewis Hamilton who technically is the points leader. Massa would not get Hamilton at the start but had to defend against Hekki Kovalainen out of turn 3 but in the hairpin he fends the Finn off. But he falls of the back of Hamilton. So when McLaren gave Lewis prime tires at lap 18 Ferrari give Massa the option tires 2 laps later. It would not really work as Massa would still be in 2nd until the right rear tire rod broke the right rear suspension on Timo Glock's car sending him into the wall demolishing his car and bringing out the saftey car. So everyone pits for tires and fuel except for Hamilton, Heidfeld, and Piquet Jr. Massa is in 4th first off the pit lane. Webber would retire from an engine faliure but the green flag is back out and we are racing once more. Massa needs to push to keep Hamilton from making a gap so he can make a pitstop and stay in front of him but the 1 stoping Piquet isn't making his life easier. But Heidfeld also has to stop again but Massa's main worry is Lewis Hamilton. 23 to go Massa is 7.9 seconds behind the McLaren. Now the Brazilian is nearly halfway out of Hamilton's pit window. You need about 22 seconds to pit at Germany and keep your track position. And Rubens Barachello is forced to pit for a new front wing after getting together with David Coulthard but Hamilton is in for his tires and gas. Where is he going to come out? He comes out in 6th place. Now Massa has to get by Piquet Jr on the track cause Heidfeld does have to pit again with 16 laps to go. Hamilton is on the move as he got past Kovalainen easily. Massa has 2 seconds to make up to get to the Renault of Piquet Jr. But Massa is getting pressured by Hamilton his one of his championship rivals. The Ferrari just doesn't seem to have the pace but he is gonna give it everything to hold that McLaren back but into the harpin Hamilton goes down at the inside and JUST gets by Felipe Massa but he uses the slipstream to come back at him at the Mercedes stadium but loses out to the McLaren. You can't say he didn't try despite it to begin that spectacular of a race for the Brazilian who finished 3rd while Hamilton won the race. Honorable mention to Nelson Piquet Jr who scores his first podium in Formula 1. Ferrari got their tale handed to them by Hamilton and McLaren so going to Hungary🇭🇺 the Scuderia would hope to return the favor. It wouldn't be so good at qualifying when the McLarens locked out the front row. But Massa would snatch the lead at the end of turn 1. He pushed his car to it's limits trying to get a gap between he and Hamilton. And that's what he did as he easily held his lead. And his lead would grow when Hamilton got a left front puncture with 30 laps to go. Massa was 4 points behind the British driver so when this happened things looked good to close the gap and even take the championship lead but unfortunately with 3 laps to go his engine fails losing him the win to the McLaren not of Hamilton but Hekki Kovalainen for his first career win. But it wasn't a completely disappointing aftermath of the race for Ferrari, Kimi got 3rd and Felipe's engineer Rob Smedley would day that they got what they wanted, Hamilton owned them in Germany and Massa returned the favor to Hamilton in this race. But however the damage was done in the championship as Massa is now 3rd 8 points behind Lewis. Going to the European🇪🇺 grand prix in Valencia, Spain 🇪🇸 Massa hoped to carry the confidence into the weekend. That's what the team did with the pole position and excellent start to dominate the race. Things would not be so easy though in the second stint not because of the race track but on pit road. When Massa's pitstop was finished he would be released into the path of Adrian Sutil. No contact was made luckily for them but now they are under investigation for an unsafe release. So what are they going to do to Felipe Massa? Drive through? Stop and go? A time penalty? Well they have to find out afterwards because it would later get investigated after the race. Kimi Raikkonen was in a tight battle with his compatriot Kovalainen. But his eagerness would cost him time as when the traffic light Ferrari use instead of a lollipop man went yellow the reigning champion took his fuel rig and one of his mechanics was unfortunately injured. And then with 12 to go Raikkonen had to retire with an engine faliure. But despite all of that Felipe Massa would go on to win the European grand prix. And stress would be eased as their mechanic would recover and Ferrari only recieved a reprimand and a fine for what was deemed as an unsafe release. Anyway this could be important in the Brazilian's quest to be world champion with 6 races left in the year going to Belgium🇧🇪 Massa would fall to 3rd after starting 2nd. Hamilton starts well in front.....until he goes off at turn 1 at lap 2 loses the lead to Kimi Raikkonen. The track was wet in some places and dry in others due to a rain shower shortly before the race began. Piquet started 12th on inters because the tail end and the beginning of the lap is wet while the rest is dry. Lap 5 and Piquet's strategy isn't working as Kovalainen passes him for 8th while the track dries up
By lap 10 Piquet is back where he was practically he is 11th after starting 12th. Hekki is racing with Webber for 6th but they make contact in the final chicane leaving the Red Bull spun around the Finn got a drive through penalty. Lap 13 Piquet's bad day ends with retirement from spinning off.
Lap 26 and rain is expected in 20 minutes. But the race was still as it was with Massa 3rd Hamilton 2nd and Raikkonen leading but with 7 laps to go and it's sprinkling. And the lead is shrinking ever so as with 3 laps to go Hamilton has caught Kimi Raikkonen and he goes for it in the last chicane and they are side by side and Hamilton goes off the track! So this meant he'd have to give the lead back but right into turn 1 he'd snatch it back from Raikkonen! And the rain is getting worse. So everyone is wrestling with their cars. Should people come for intermediate tires? Will they even get back with the car in one piece? The leaders nearly didn't because Nico Rosberg was rejoining the track after having a moment nearly costing the leaders. Kimi gets the lead until he spins at the start of the final sector. And before the final chicane Kimi spins out of the race into the wall! People should pit right? Well Hamilton and Massa didn't bother trying to beat each other in these conditions. And at the top of Eau Rouge Hamilton nearly wrecked! Everyone was tiptoeing around to survive! And that's what Hamilton did to win Massa 2nd and Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso get 3rd and 4th after coming to the pits for intermediates! So nice job to them. But what wouldn't be nice for Ferrari is seing Kimi wreck out of the race and Massa 8 points behind Lewis Hamilton. But noone was expecting the news that Lewis Hamilton would get demoted to 3rd place after getting a 25 second time penalty for cutting the chicane and gaining an advantage!

McLaren would try to appeal the decision of demoting Hamilton which meant that so far this gave the win to Felipe Massa! In the press conference before the Italian🇮🇹 grand prix weekend some drivers including Massa thought Hamilton did gain an advantage. Hamilton and McLaren disagreed. But anyway onto Monza where there was RAIN just like Britain. But even though some things have changed like Hamilton wasn't so dominant this time as he would start in 15th from trying to get a lap with inters when the track was too wet. And even with full wets Hamilton still lost control of his McLaren. But unfortunately for the Ferrari fans Kimi Raikkonen struggled in these conditions so the Finn would start in 14th. So this could be a real opportunity for Massa though in the other Ferrari. The Brazilian was on his final flying lap is he going to put his car on pole? No he misses out with a 6th place qualifying effort but for the Italian fans it wasn't a total loss as Sebastian Vettel and Sebastian Bourdais put their Scuderia Toro Rossos 1st and 4th. But things would be good and bad for the Italian cars as Massa would be promoted to 5th at the saftey car start but Sebastian Bourdais's car stalled causing the Frenchman to lose a lap. But when the race went green EVERYONE was tiptoeing. These conditions were bad as Kovalainen will testify as he went wide in the first chicane. Timo Glock went wide in the second chicane while racing Fernando Alonso. And Hamilton did the same thing at the same part of the track against Kimi but he let Raikkonen through so no penalty. Glock would lose his Toyota under braking in the first corner. And even Sebastian Vettel the race leader made a mistake in the second chicane in these conditions. Despite that Massa now is after the Toyota powered Williams of Nico Rosberg. He would get past him at the second chicane but would give the place back the next lap confusing his team. Felipe just didn't want to risk getting a penalty like Hamilton did in Belgium. Especially when the FIA tell you to give the place back. But Massa would get past the Williams way before turn 1 for 4th. But in turn 1 is where Giancarlo Fisichella would losen his front wing against David Coulthard. And then before the last corner he loses the front wing all together putting him in the gravel, wall, and out of the race. The track is slowly getting faster but more rain is expected so when pitstops came full wets were the tires to get. But there is no rain yet so Red Bull give David Coulthard intermediates but that failed massively. But Fernando Alonso pits at lap 30 for intermediates and he makes it work. And so everyone else gets them on. Massa would have to get on the move and he would get by Mark Webber at the final sector and then the Red Bull spun. Then he is after Nick Heidfeld into the first chicane but the Brazilian goes off the track so he has to give the place back while the championship leader Hamilton is closing in on this battle. But then the tides turn as Heidfeld and Massa pull away. Unfortunately he'd would not be able to give the tifosi the home win but Sebastian Vettel wins his first grand prix and so far to this day the only win for Scuderia Toro Rosso. This would be what Italy wanted to see as Sebastian Bourdais who unfortunately stalled finished a lap down in 18th, Kimi Raikkonen finished 9th and Felipe Massa finished 6th but what's important for the Brazilian is that he finished ahead of his championship rival Lewis Hamilton. Another championship implication is that the appeal that McLaren tried to do for Belgium failed and to this day fans STILL argue about this. Some say that the penalty was too harsh especially when Raikkonen wrecked out while others say that it was a deserved penalty. But regardless that is how the results will be and there is nothing anyone can do now with 4 races left in the season Felipe Massa is 1 point behind his championship rival going into the unknown night of Singapore🇸🇬. This is the first race ever in this country AND the first race in the night. Felipe would start it off with a bang getting his car on provisional pole ahead of Lewis Hamilton. He would pull a lead over Hamilton and even running over a piece of debris that gets caught under the car couldn't slow slow him down. But what would slow him down is a saftey car after a wreck from Nelson Piquet Jr. But can he make it back to the pits when they open because some of the drivers are on fumes. Nico Rosberg stopped in the pits when it was closed and so did Kubica. If Massa needs to pit he'll still be in the race but get a 10 second stop go penalty. Massa pits when its open so that's good. But it wasn't good for him to leave with the fuel hose! Ferrari's fuel hose was stuck on Felipe's car and when Massa got a green light for a BRIEF second is his signal to go but it was stuck on he had to wait for his mechanics to go all the way to the end of the pits to get it off leaving the Brazilian in last place. Meanwhile this jumbled up the order when the race resumed under green as Nico Rosberg is the race leader who will later get a penalty, Jarno Trulli and Giancarlo Fisichella have yet to pit, Kubica will have a drive through Alonso is 5 who would be the net race leader with both Red Bulls and Hamilton finishing the points and the first of drivers who pitted during the saftey car. Felipe Massa is struggling for grip and insult to injury is a drive through penalty for an unsafe release because he went in the path of Adrian Sutil just like Valencia. Anyway his title rival would be stuck behind the Red Bulls but Webber's mistake gave him a place even though the Australian would retire because of a problem with his gearbox. But he would still be a net 4th after Rosberg served his penalty. And after being held up by David Coulthard for many laps with 20 to go he'd get past the Scottish driver. While the race was nearing the end, Jarno Trulli was coasting trying to make it back to the pits when his hydraulics failed making him lose the gears in his Toyota and Massa spins because he was distracted but he gets it going just as Sutil goes straight into the wall. The race would end with Alonso winning for the first time in a year in his return to Renault, Nico Rosberg get 2nd after a 10 second stop go penalty but championship leader Hamilton in 3rd while Felipe Massa scored nothing in 13th place. It was a disappointing end to what looked like a strong weekend that left him 7 points behind the lead. And going to Japan🇯🇵 his championship challenge seemed to take another blow when he qualified 5th and Hamilton got pole position. Anyway Massa get a good slipstream but nearly goes wide off the track and Hamilton locks his brakes and Raikkonen gets pushed wide by the McLaren and they all go backwards which gives Kubica the lead but crucially Massa is 5th ahead of Hamilton and fellow Ferrari Raikkonen is behind Hamilton but the two championship rivals are going at it into turn 10 and Massa goes slightly wide and tries to come back at Hamilton but he spins him out! Well he wanted to beat his title rival but that isn't the way he wanted to do that as Felipe is 7th now and Hamilton is dead last! And now they are BOTH along with Kimi Raikkonen under investigation by the Stewards! And at lap 17 Felipe Massa gets a drive through penalty for spinning Lewis Hamilton and the Brit ALSO gets a drive through penalty for forcing Raikkonen of the track into turn 1! So both championship contenders are at the rear of the field! Now it is damage limitation, who can stop the bleeding better than the other? Well after that AND still having to pit for tires and fuel Massa is in 13th and Hamilton is in 14th. So far Massa is slower than his championship rival because he is being held up behind Jenson Button. The McLaren is 11 seconds behind at lap 26. Knowing that he's losing time he muscled his way past the Honda into turn 1. Halfway through the race Hamilton gets past Button as well. 26 to go and Massa gets by Webber who is on a 1 stop as Hamilton pits once again. The Brit would get past Rubens Barachello soon after. Felipe is really pushing now as he is setting fast laps where hethe Brazilian could be within range of a point until he spins around due to Sebastian Bourdais making contact coming out of the pits with 17 laps to go. Felipe would pit for his last stop and after that spin the chance for points seemed to be ruined because he came out 10th. 8 laps remaining and Massa gets by Nick Heidfeld he's 6.8 seconds behind Mark Webber so a chance for a point is still up for grabs and with 3 laps to go he takes it to the finish line to score a championship point after his horrible day he got a championship point while Lewis Hamilton finished 12th. This low key felt like Fernando Alonso winning the race in Fuji it's a small win for Felipe Massa and Ferrari and also hot another point after the race when Sebastian Bourdais got a time penalty for spinning Massa. This left him 5 points behind Hamilton going into the penultimate race at China🇨🇳. This race was a crucial point in the championship battle one year ago so what is this year going to bring. It brought familiar vibes with Hamilton starting on pole Raikkonen 2nd Massa 3rd. And that's how it would be after the start, first and second pitstops until he caught Kimi Raikkonen for 2nd behind Lewis Hamilton. That means he is 7 points behind going to the season finale in Brazil🇧🇷. Going into this race it looked like a slight longshot for Felipe Massa. He needed to win the race and Hamilton to finish 6th or worse to win the world championship. But one year ago Felipe's teammate Kimi Raikkonen was 7 points behind Lewis Hamilton and he snatched the title away from him so it's not impossible. It definitely helped when Massa put his Ferrari on pole with Hamilton starting 4th. This will be the most important start of Felipe Massa's career for him to do all he can do to win the championship. What wouldn't ease the stress is the rain before the start. Most of the circuit is damp so intermediates are obviously the way to go. So Massa got away well to keep the lead at the start but Hamilton is still 4th after the first lap. Lap 8 and drivers begin to change to slicks. So 2 laps later Felipe Massa goes on the dry tyres and Hamilton does the same a lap later. After pitstops cycle around Massa still leads and Hamilton comes out 7th. If the race ended now Felipe would be world champion. Lap 12 and Hamilton gets by Jarno Trulli who nearly spun but the Italian did a great job to keep his Toyota out of the barriers. But Massa would still need to push hard because Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso don't care about a championship fight they just want to win. But Lewis wants a title win so lap 17 he made his move on Giancarlo Fisichella to get his crucial 5th. What would also be crucial is that Vettel is on a different strategy so Massa wouldn't be pressured by the Toro Rosso so much and he is pulling away from Fernando Alonso so the win is looking good but it isn't a guarantee for the title. But there is rain on the way with 8 laps to go it begins to rain and 2 laps later Nick Heidfeld makes the first move for intermediates. 5 laps to go Hamilton pits for inters followed by Massa a lap later. So everyone takes that route except for the Toyotas of Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli who are gonna try to make the end of the race on slicks! Trulli is 7th but Glock is 4th which crucially means Hamilton is 5th but Sebastian Vettel who is 6th now is pressuring Hamilton for the place you'd think that the Toyota's are dumb but so far they are relitively fast. So fans like a high tense grand finale to a season well this is it! Can the Toyotas make it to the end? Can Vettel get past Hamilton for 5th? Who is going to be the 2008 Formula 1 world champion? It all comes down to this!

After all of that he would get congratulated by his engineer and he would respond as he is very emotional "I'm so proud of you anyway. I would have been even more with the championship but anyway thank you." You could tell that when Felipe got out of his Ferrari that so many emotions were going through his head winning his home grand prix for the second time and JUST missing out on the championship that he briefly thought he had. But on the podium and afterwards he showed his class which gave him a lot of respect from fans and the F1 paddock. 2009 wasn't the year he nor Ferrari wanted with the fact that their car was uncompetitive but in Germany he scored a podium. But trouble would strike the next race in Hungary as during Q2 he was on a warm up lap when a spring came out of Rubens Barachello's car out of nowhere and hit Felipe's helment knocking him unconscious and as well as cutting his season short as this incident nearly killed him. He'd be replaced by Luca Badoer🇮🇹 and Giancarlo Fisichella for the rest of the season. 2010 brought some promise as he would get a podium at his first race back in Bahrain and would even lead the world championship after Australia. But it was short lived as midway through the season bad luck put Massa down and many thought he didn't have what it takes to win anymore but in Germany he'd get a brilliant start and get the lead. But in what many think was the day that made the Brazilian lose his confidence was after a very controversial call when his engineer said to him "Fernando is faster than you." Everyone knew that it was a coded team order as after the hairpin Massa would short shift his Ferrari to let his teammate pass and eventually win the race. The disappointment was palpable on the radio as he would say
"So what I can say? Congratulations to the team." His interview afterwards also should his palpable disappointment.

Felipe would run till 2013 with Ferrari but while he only scored 5 more podiums after Germany Alonso scored 6 wins and 40 podiums. Massa would run the rest of his carrer with Williams with only 5 more podiums for the rest of his career and Felipe Massa would never win a race again or ever win his elusive world title. It makes many ask "What if he never had a miserable race at Britian?" What if Ferrari never had that fueling misshap at Singapore?" "If Massa was a world champion would Ferrari tell him to move out of Alonso's way?" For the lovable Brazilian many look back at 2008 and wonder "What might have been for Felipe Massa?"