Felipe Massa: Ferrari wins, the 2008 title and Hungary 2009

Felipe Massa is a racing driver from Brazil who started 269 Grands Prix in Formula One between 2002 and 2017, for Sauber, Ferrari and Williams, and won 11 of them, all for Ferrari. He lost the 2008 World Championship to Lewis Hamilton by one point, 98 to 97 in Formula 1’s official 2008 standings, when Hamilton passed Timo Glock at the last corner of the last race, in Brazil.

Less than nine months later a spring from Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn hit his helmet in qualifying for the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix and fractured his skull. Since 2024 he has been suing Formula One Management, the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone in London over the 2008 title, and the UK Supreme Court has listed the defendants’ appeal for 2 and 3 February 2027. He still races in Brazil, in the Stock Car Pro Series.

Early life and junior career

Massa was born in São Paulo on 25 April 1981, according to Formula1points.com’s driver record, and won four championships in three years before he reached Formula One: Formula Chevrolet in Brazil in 1999, the Formula Renault Eurocup and the Italian Formula Renault championship in 2000, and Euro Formula 3000 in 2001.

Karting and Formula Chevrolet in Brazil

Motor Sport’s driver database records that he started racing karts in São Paulo at the age of eight and raced them at home and abroad for seven years. He moved to cars in the Formula Chevrolet championship in Brazil in 1998 and won the title the following year.

Formula Renault and Formula 3000 in Europe

In 2000 he moved to Europe with Marcello Rosei’s Cram team in Formula Renault 2.0, won seven races and took the Eurocup and Italian titles at the first attempt; he won the Italian one on countback from Raffaele Giammaria, though he had missed two rounds. He went straight on to the Euro F3000 series in 2001 with the Draco Junior Team and won six of the eight rounds. The same year he started four European Touring Car Championship races in a Nordauto Alfa Romeo 156, finishing fifth at Estoril, and spent five days testing a Sauber C20 at Mugello (Motor Sport).

Sauber years and a season testing for Ferrari, 2002 to 2005

Massa made his Formula One debut for Sauber at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne in 2002, spent 2003 as Ferrari’s test driver, and raced for Sauber again in 2004 and 2005, scoring 27 points in his three Sauber seasons.

Alongside Nick Heidfeld in 2002 he finished fifth in Spain and sixth in Malaysia and at the European Grand Prix. After he collided with Pedro de la Rosa at Monza and was given a ten-place grid penalty, Sauber replaced him with Heinz-Harald Frentzen for the United States Grand Prix, and Frentzen kept the race seat for 2003 (Motor Sport). Massa was 13th in the 2002 championship with four points.

Back at Sauber in 2004, alongside Giancarlo Fisichella, he scored 12 points, with fifth at Monaco and fourth at Spa, where he finished despite contact with two cars on the first lap; at the last race, in Brazil, he qualified fourth and led a couple of laps in front of his home crowd. In 2005 he usually outpaced his team-mate, the 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve, and held off Mark Webber’s Williams for fourth in Canada (Motor Sport). His manager, Nicolas Todt, was the son of Ferrari’s director general Jean Todt.

Ferrari, 2006 and 2007: the first wins

Massa joined Ferrari in 2006 to replace Rubens Barrichello as Michael Schumacher’s team-mate, and took five victories in his first two seasons there.

First win in Turkey, 2006

He started his first race for Ferrari, in Bahrain, from the front row of the grid, and took his first career podium at the Nürburgring (third), then second places at Indianapolis and Hockenheim. At Istanbul Park on 27 August 2006 he turned pole position into his first Grand Prix victory (Motor Sport; Formula 1’s 2006 race results).

Winning his home race at Interlagos

On 22 October 2006, at the last race of the season, he won the Brazilian Grand Prix from pole. Formula 1’s results list no Brazilian winner of the race between Ayrton Senna in 1993 and Massa. He was third in the 2006 championship with 80 points, behind Fernando Alonso (134) and Schumacher (121).

2007 alongside Kimi Räikkönen

Schumacher retired and Kimi Räikkönen took his seat. Massa won in Bahrain, Spain and Turkey and took his sixth pole of the year at the final race in Brazil, where Räikkönen led him home in a Ferrari one-two and won the title (Motor Sport). Räikkönen finished on 110 points, one ahead of Hamilton and Alonso; Massa was fourth with 94.

How Massa lost the 2008 world title by one point

Massa won six Grands Prix in 2008, more than any other driver, and lost the championship to Hamilton by one point after Hamilton took fifth place at the last corner of the final race. Ferrari won the constructors’ title with 172 points, according to Formula 1’s 2008 team standings.

His 2008 campaign started with no points from two races: he spun at the first corner in Australia on cold tyres, hit the barriers and later retired, and he spun out of second place in Malaysia. He then won in Bahrain, Turkey, France, Valencia and Belgium. In Hungary he passed Hamilton round the outside at the first corner and led until his engine failed with three laps left. Motor Sport, listing his 2008 errors in 2025, described a year in which Massa and Ferrari “combined sublime pace with costly errors”: spins, botched pit stops and mechanical failures.

Singapore 2008 and the fuel hose

Massa came to the first Singapore Grand Prix one point behind Hamilton, qualified on pole 0.6 seconds clear of him and led. On lap 14 Nelson Piquet Jr hit the wall in his Renault and brought out the safety car. At Massa’s stop, Ferrari’s semi-automatic pit system gave him a premature signal to go and he drove off with the fuel hose still attached; it tore away, knocked down his mechanics and he stopped at the end of the pit lane to wait for them, as Formula 1 recalled in its account of the race. The Associated Press report from Singapore says he rejoined 18th and was given a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release. He finished 13th; Hamilton was third, and his lead grew from one point to seven.

The final lap at Interlagos

Massa went to the last race, in Brazil, seven points behind his title rival: he needed to win with Hamilton sixth or lower. He won from pole. Rain fell late in the race, and Hamilton ran sixth into the last lap before he passed Timo Glock’s Toyota, still on dry tyres, at the last corner (Motor Sport). Formula 1’s race result has Hamilton fifth, 38.907 seconds behind Massa. Motor Sport puts the time Massa spent as world champion at 39 seconds.

What happened to Felipe Massa in Hungary in 2009?

On Saturday 25 July 2009, in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, a spring from the rear suspension of Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn hit Massa’s helmet just above his left eye and fractured his skull in two places; he did not race again that season.

The spring and the crash

BBC Sport reported that Barrichello’s car suffered a rear suspension failure through Turn Three of the Hungaroring and that the spring hit the front left of Massa’s helmet at 162mph (CNN reported 170mph). With his feet on both the throttle and the brake, Massa ran into the barrier at Turn Four, by then at 62mph. CNN reported that such a spring can weigh up to a kilogram and that Massa, then 28, was taken by helicopter to the AEK military hospital in Budapest for emergency surgery. On the Sunday Ferrari said his condition in hospital was stable after the operation. The accident came six days after 18-year-old Henry Surtees was killed by a loose wheel in a Formula Two race in England (BBC).

Massa described it years later in the Motorsport Heroes film: “Exit of Turn 5, Rubens lost his third spring of his car, and I was coming around 250kp/h. The spring just hit my head.” Asked by Tom Kristensen how much it weighed, he answered: “Between a kilo and 900 grammes, and I’m arriving at 250.” He had a second operation in Brazil a month later, when surgeons fitted a plate above his left eye.

Return to racing and safer helmets

His recovery kept him out of the F60 for the rest of 2009. Massa waved the chequered flag at the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix and returned to Ferrari’s race team in 2010 (Motor Sport). A strip of Zylon was added to the top of Formula One visors as a stopgap after his accident. The damage to his helmet started about ten years of research whose results are now built into every Formula One helmet, including a visor 10mm shorter, and the Zylon strip has since been dropped (Motorsport.com).

Ferrari with Fernando Alonso, 2010 to 2013

Massa spent four more seasons at Ferrari with Fernando Alonso as his team-mate, scored eight podium finishes and no wins, and finished sixth, sixth, seventh and eighth in the championship.

“Fernando is faster than you”: Germany 2010

At Hockenheim on 25 July 2010, a year to the day after his accident in Hungary, Massa led the German Grand Prix until Ferrari radioed: “Fernando is faster than you; can you confirm you understood that message?” The message came from his race engineer, Rob Smedley, and Massa let Alonso through to win (Motor Sport). Smedley later called the order “the wrong thing to do, personally”, said the Brazilian “found it difficult from that on” and called it “a turning point” in Massa’s F1 career (Motorsport.com); Massa told Motor Sport that it was “really bad for the confidence of the driver”. The stewards fined Ferrari $100,000 for the team order, under the ban on team orders that interfere with a race result, and on 8 September 2010 the World Motor Sport Council confirmed the stewards’ decision and added only the FIA’s costs, Grandprix.com reported.

2011 to 2013 and leaving Ferrari

In 2011 he finished no higher than fifth all year and was involved in several collisions with Hamilton’s McLaren. In 2012 he did not qualify in the top ten until Monaco, the sixth race, then finished second in Japan and third in Brazil. Third in Spain in 2013 was his last podium for Ferrari, and Ferrari brought back Räikkönen as his replacement for 2014 (Motor Sport). His 11 wins put him fourth on Ferrari’s list of winners at the time, level with Alonso and behind Schumacher (72), Niki Lauda (15) and Alberto Ascari (13), according to Formula 1’s 2016 statistics feature, which also counts 15 pole positions for Ferrari.

Williams, 2014 to 2017

Massa moved to Williams for 2014, took his last pole position in Austria that year and his last podiums in 2015, and retired at the end of 2017 after coming back for one more season.

Pole in Austria and podiums for Williams

Formula 1’s starting grid for the 2014 Austrian Grand Prix has Massa on pole with 1:08.759, his first pole since Brazil in 2008. He finished third in Italy and Brazil and second in Abu Dhabi that year, and was seventh in the championship; Williams finished third in the constructors’ table behind Mercedes and Red Bull, according to Formula 1’s 2014 team standings. In 2015 he was third in Austria and Italy and sixth overall (Motor Sport).

Retirement in 2016 and a return for 2017

Massa made his retirement announcement on 1 September 2016, before the Italian Grand Prix at Monza: he would stop at the end of the season (Formula 1). When Nico Rosberg retired as world champion that winter and Mercedes signed Valtteri Bottas, Williams brought Massa back on a one-year deal, announced on 16 January 2017. “I always intended to race somewhere in 2017, but Williams is a team close to my heart,” he said in the team’s statement, which Adam Cooper published in full. His team-mate was the rookie Lance Stroll. His last Grand Prix was in Abu Dhabi on 26 November 2017 (Crash.net).

Felipe Massa’s F1 career in numbers

In 15 seasons Massa started 269 Grands Prix and scored 11 wins, 41 podiums, 16 pole positions and 15 fastest laps (Formula1points.com). He never won the World Championship; his best was second in 2008. Formula 1’s 2016 feature put his win total level with Jacques Villeneuve and Barrichello, and his 16 poles level with Stirling Moss and Räikkönen.

Every Grand Prix win

All 11 wins came for Ferrari between August 2006 and November 2008, three of them at Istanbul Park and two each at Sakhir and Interlagos.

Why is Felipe Massa suing F1 over the 2008 title?

Massa says that if Piquet’s deliberate crash in Singapore had been investigated and acted on in 2008, the race result would have been annulled and he would have been champion, and that the sport’s authorities concealed it; he is claiming about £64 million in damages from Formula One Management, the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone, who all deny the allegations (Lawyer Monthly).

Crashgate and the 2009 ruling

At an extraordinary meeting in Paris on 21 September 2009, Renault admitted that its team had conspired with Piquet to cause the crash. The World Motor Sport Council found that Flavio Briatore, Pat Symonds and Piquet had conspired, gave Renault a disqualification suspended until the end of 2011, banned Briatore without limit and Symonds for five years, confirmed Piquet’s immunity, and found that Alonso was not involved, as the Council’s statement, published by Autosport, records. The Singapore result and the championship standings were not changed.

Ecclestone’s interview and the claim

Massa’s case rests on a 2023 interview in which Ecclestone said that he and the then FIA president Max Mosley had kept the conspiracy quiet. The judge found Massa had a real prospect of showing at trial that he lacked the essential facts until that interview, so the conspiracy claim was not out of time (Motorsport.com). Massa issued proceedings in the High Court in London in March 2024 with four claims: breach of contract against the FIA, inducing breach of contract against FOM and Ecclestone, unlawful means conspiracy against all three, and a claim that the FIA breached duties under its own statutes (UK Supreme Court case summary).

The High Court ruling of November 2025

After a three-day hearing in October 2025, Mr Justice Jay struck out every claim except unlawful means conspiracy, by orders of 20 November 2025 and 5 March 2026, and refused Massa the declarations he wanted about the 2008 title. “The present claim cannot of course rewrite the outcome of the 2008 Drivers’ World Championship,” the judgment said (Motor Sport). The judge found Massa had “a real prospect of proving at trial all the components of his unlawful means conspiracy” claim, but cautioned that proving it at trial would be a tall order, and found some claims out of time or governed by French law (Motorsport.com). In March 2026 the court ordered the defendants to pay Massa £250,000 towards his costs (GPFans).

The Supreme Court appeal

FOM, the FIA and Ecclestone asked to go straight to the Supreme Court, leapfrogging the Court of Appeal, and were given permission on 26 May 2026. The questions for the court include whether unlawful means conspiracy can be founded on a civil wrong that the claimant could not sue over on his own. Lord Reed, Lord Hamblen and Lord Richards granted that permission, and the hearing is listed for 2 and 3 February 2027 (case UKSC/2026/0035, with the Ecclestone and FIA appeals as UKSC/2026/0034 and 0037). If the appeal fails, the conspiracy claim goes to a full trial in the High Court.

Is Felipe Massa still racing?

Yes. In 2026 Massa races for Time Lubrax TMG in Brazil’s Stock Car Pro Series and shares a Porsche with his son Pipo in the Porsche Cup Brasil endurance rounds; from 2018 to 2020 he raced two seasons of Formula E.

Formula E with Venturi

Massa signed a three-year contract with the Monaco-based Venturi team in May 2018, starting with the 2018–19 season and the new Gen2 car (Speedcafe). He took his only Formula E podium, third behind Jean-Éric Vergne and Oliver Rowland, at the Monaco E-Prix in May 2019 (FIA race report). He told Motorsport.com he ran out of usable energy 150 metres from the line and coasted home 0.178 seconds ahead of Pascal Wehrlein. He scored three points in 2019–20, and he and Venturi parted after the Berlin finale in August 2020, a year before his contract ended (Motorsport Week).

Stock Car Pro Series in Brazil

Massa said in December 2017 that he would race in Brazilian Stock Car early in 2018 (Crash.net), and he has raced the series full-time since 2021. His first win came in the second race at Cascavel on 26 November 2023, after 69 Stock Car races (Correio), and he won again in the second race of the season finale at Interlagos (Motorsport.com). After the fourth round of 2026, at Goiânia in May, he was fourth in the championship with 327 points (ABC do ABC). After the tenth round, at Cascavel on 16–18 October, he was tenth with 570 points; Felipe Fraga led with 884 and the series resumes at Velopark on 15 November (Grande Prêmio, 20 October 2026).

Racing with his son in the Porsche Cup

Massa’s son Pipo races in the Porsche Carrera Cup Brasil Rookie class and by July 2026 had won five of the eight Rookie races held that year (Correio Braziliense). Father and son, who had raced karts together, first shared a car, number 19, in the opening Porsche Cup endurance race at Portimão in July 2026. They led the Rookie class in the first half before the engine failed on lap 33, and finished 30th overall in the second half in the team’s spare car (ABC do ABC).

Felipe Massa’s roles at the FIA

Massa was president of the FIA’s International Karting Commission (CIK-FIA) from December 2017 and became president of the FIA Drivers’ Commission in 2022.

The World Motor Sport Council appointed him to the karting post at its meeting in Paris in December 2017, with Kees van de Grint of the Netherlands staying on as vice-president (Crash.net). In early 2022 the new FIA president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, made him president of the Drivers’ Commission, set up to give drivers a voice with the FIA (GPBlog).

The record Ferrari parade at Silverstone, 2012

On Saturday 15 September 2012 Massa led the parade of Ferraris at Silverstone that set the Guinness World Record for the largest parade of Ferrari cars; the organisers counted 964 cars, and Sportscar Digest reported the record as confirmed by Guinness.

The parade was part of Ferrari Racing Days, which the BRSCC ran for Ferrari North Europe with help from the Ferrari Owners’ Club. Massa, then racing for Ferrari, led in a 458 Spider and said afterwards: “It was a really unforgettable experience. It’s a great honour for me to be here for such a special event, with so many cars all brought together on one race track, which produced an unprecedented spectacle for all Prancing Horse fans.” Marc Gené was there as a coach for Ferrari’s F1 Clienti customers, and Ferrari gave £5 for every car in the parade to BEN, the motor industry charity (BRSCC report, 18 September 2012).

The 964 cars beat the previous record of 490, set in Japan in 2008: the BRSCC and Classic & Sports Car say at Fuji, CarGuide.PH at Suzuka. The first Silverstone record, 385 cars, dated from 2007. Classic & Sports Car noted a 1949 166 among the entries and Ferrari North Europe’s sums for the field: 5,000 litres of engine capacity, 10,000 cylinders and half a million horsepower. A SkiddMark report of 16 September 2012 listed an F12berlinetta, F40s, Enzos, an FXX, a Ferrari F2008 Formula One car and a 599XX Evoluzione in the line-up and put the sum raised for BEN at £4,820 and the value of the cars at more than £80 million. The Guinness World Records entry credits Ferrari North Europe Ltd with the record on 15 September 2012 and gives a headline figure of 944, though its own note that 971 cars started and 7 did not complete the course gives 964.

Questions

How old is Felipe Massa?

Massa was born on 25 April 1981 in São Paulo, so he is 45. He was 28 at the time of his accident in Hungary in 2009.

Was Felipe Massa ever Formula One world champion?

No. His best season was 2008, when he finished second, 97 points to Lewis Hamilton’s 98. Ferrari won the constructors’ championship that year.

What number did Felipe Massa race with?

19. He raced with it at Williams from 2014, and it is on his Venturi Formula E car, his Stock Car and the Porsche he shares with his son.

Who were Felipe Massa’s team-mates at Ferrari?

Michael Schumacher in 2006, Kimi Räikkönen from 2007 to 2009 and Fernando Alonso from 2010 to 2013.

Why did Felipe Massa leave Ferrari?

Ferrari brought Kimi Räikkönen back for 2014 to partner Fernando Alonso, and Massa moved to Williams, where he took a pole position in his first season.

How many races did Felipe Massa win in 2008?

Six: Bahrain, Turkey, France, the European Grand Prix at Valencia, Belgium and Brazil. No other driver won more that year; Hamilton won five.

How much money is Felipe Massa suing for?

About £64 million, for the earnings and sponsorship he says he lost by not being champion. The claim is against Formula One Management, the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone; no damages have been awarded.

Sources

• Formula 1, 2008 drivers’ standings, and the standings for 2002 and 2004–2017: points and championship positions.
• Formula 1, race results 1991–2017: Massa’s 11 wins, the Brazilian Grand Prix winners 1993–2005, and the result of every 2008 round, including Singapore and Brazil.
• Formula 1, 2008 team standings: Ferrari’s constructors’ title.
• Formula 1, 2014 Austrian Grand Prix starting grid: pole time and car number 19.
• Formula 1, “Felipe Massa: his career in numbers”, 1 September 2016: retirement announcement, Ferrari wins and poles, all-time rankings.
• Formula 1, “Do you remember… F1’s first ever night race”: the Singapore 2008 pole margin and pit stop.
• Formula1points.com, Felipe Massa driver record: birth date, starts, podiums, poles and fastest laps, Grands Prix per season.
• Motor Sport, driver database: Felipe Massa: junior career, Sauber, Ferrari and Williams seasons, Germany 2010.
• Motor Sport, “All Massa’s 2008 mistakes”, 2025: the 2008 season’s retirements and the 39 seconds.
• Associated Press via The Herald, “Pit-road accident a setback for Massa”, 28 September 2008: rejoining 18th and the drive-through penalty.
• BBC Sport, “F1 to investigate Massa accident”, July 2009: the spring, the speeds and the Surtees accident.
• CNN, Massa stable after skull fracture, 26 July 2009: fractures, the weight of the spring, the hospital.
• Motorsport.com, “Motorsport Heroes: Massa recalls the day he almost died”: Massa’s account, the plate, the visor changes.
• Grandprix.com, “Ferrari escapes further punishment”, 8 September 2010: the Hockenheim fine and the Council’s decision.
• Adam Cooper’s F1 Blog, “Williams confirms Massa is back for 2017”, 16 January 2017: the return and Williams’s statement.
• Crash.net, “Massa signs with Venturi for Formula E Season 5”, 2018: last Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi, Venturi contract.
• FIA World Motor Sport Council decision of 21 September 2009, published by Autosport: the Crashgate findings and penalties.
• UK Supreme Court, Massa and others v Formula One Management Limited, UKSC/2026/0035: the claims, the High Court orders, permission to appeal, hearing dates and permission panel.
• Motorsport.com, “Felipe Massa’s F1 2008 lawsuit will proceed to trial”, November 2025: the High Court ruling, causation, time limits.
• Motor Sport, “Felipe Massa’s F1 Crashgate case: bombshell trial to go ahead”, November 2025: the judgment’s wording on the 2008 result.
• Lawyer Monthly, “Felipe Massa £64m F1 lawsuit cleared for High Court trial”, November 2025: the size of the claim and the defendants’ denial.
• GPFans, “F1, FIA and Bernie Ecclestone head to Supreme Court”, 10 June 2026: the £250,000 costs order.
• Speedcafe, “Massa signs three-year Formula E deal”, May 2018: the Venturi contract.
• FIA, Monaco E-Prix race report, May 2019: Massa’s Formula E podium.
• Motorsport.com, “Massa ran out of energy 150m from Monaco finish”, May 2019: energy and the margin over Wehrlein.
• Motorsport Week, “Massa splits from Venturi as Formula E season ends”, 13 August 2020: leaving Formula E.
• Crash.net, “Massa appointed head of FIA Karting Commission”, December 2017: the CIK-FIA post and Stock Car plans.
• GPBlog, “Massa appointed as new president of the FIA Driver’s Commission”, February 2022: the Drivers’ Commission.
• Correio, “Felipe Massa conquista primeira vitória da Stock Car na carreira”, 26 November 2023: first Stock Car win.
• Motorsport.com, “Stock Car Pro Series: Zonta and Massa win, Casagrande champion”, December 2023: second win of 2023.
• ABC do ABC, Stock Car round at Goiânia, May 2026: team and championship position after round four.
• Grande Prêmio, “Fraga mantém liderança da Stock Car 2026 após etapa de Cascavel”, 20 October 2026: the standings after round ten.
• Correio Braziliense, “Felipe Massa e filho Pipo estreiam juntos na Porsche”, July 2026: Pipo Massa’s Rookie season.
• ABC do ABC, “Felipe e Pipo Massa estreiam juntos na Porsche Cup Endurance”, July 2026: the Portimão race.
• BRSCC, “964 Ferraris set world record”, 18 September 2012: the parade, Massa’s quote, Marc Gené, BEN.
• Sportscar Digest, “Ferrari parade breaks Guinness record”, 2012: the date and Guinness confirmation.
• Classic & Sports Car, “Ferrari world record is blitzed at Silverstone”, September 2012: the 2007 record, the 1949 166, Ferrari North Europe’s figures.
• CarGuide.PH, “Ferrari sets Guinness record for largest parade”, October 2012: Suzuka as the 2008 venue.
• Guinness World Records, “Largest parade of Ferrari cars”: the record entry.
• SkiddMark, “Felipe Massa and Marc Gene lead a record breaking parade of Ferraris at Silverstone”, 16 September 2012: the parade line-up, the £4,820 raised and the cars’ value.