Felipe Massa enjoyed great success in his time in Formula 1, but he was never able to get over that final hurdle and claim the title.
Beginning his career with Sauber in 2002 and 2004-2005, the Brazilian moved to Ferrari in 2006 and spent eight seasons with the team. Massa would finish third in his first year with the Maranello squad with two wins and seven podiums.
After Kimi Raikkonen won the 2007 title with Ferrari, Massa took a huge stride forward in 2008 as he claimed six wins across the season/ The Brazilian came tantalisingly close to winning the title that season at his home race in Sao Paulo after he won the race, with his arch-rival Lewis Hamilton sat sixth on the final lap.
However, at the penultimate corner, Hamilton passed the Toyota of Timo Glock in the wet conditions to take fifth and win the title by just one point. Massa enjoyed his best finish in F1 in 2008 with second, but the end result was hard to take given he had, for one brief moment, been world champion.
In 2009, Massa suffered a horror accident at the Hungarian Grand Prix when a spring from fellow Brazilian Rubens Barrichello’s car hit his helmet and sent him into the barriers. The 43-year-old missed the remainder of the season, and he never fully recovered when he returned to Ferrari in 2010.
Leaving Ferrari in 2014 to join Williams for four more seasons, Massa registered 13 more podiums after his accident in Hungary before retiring from F1 in 2017.
Felipe Massa think he would have been more successful in F1 if he had Max Verstappen’s aggression on the track
Massa was in his third season with Williams when Max Verstappen made his debut with Red Bull in 2016. The Dutchman – then 18 – had spent one year with their junior outfit Toro Rossi before being promoted to the main team in place of Daniil Kvyat.
Verstappen has gone on to establish himself as one of the best talents in recent history, claiming 62 wins, 111 podiums and three consecutive titles from 2021 to 2023.
Speaking with Formule1.nl, Massa says he would have gone further in his F1 career had he had Verstappen’s aggressive approach on the track.
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“Max is a complete driver. He has everything, in terms of speed and mentality. He is a huge fighter. For him, everything revolves around racing, everything else doesn’t interest him,” he said.
“Max drives aggressively, on the limit and sometimes a bit over it. Lando has less of that. For me, Max is clearly number one. I personally like his mentality. I think I would have come further in my own career if I had had more of Max’s mentality. I was sometimes too nice, too kind. I was maybe more like Lando.”
Max Verstappen can secure his fourth world title in Las Vegas
At the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix, Verstappen has the chance to make it four consecutive titles; a feat only achieved once by a Red Bull driver in Sebastian Vettel from 2010 to 2013.
The Dutchman holds a 62-point lead over Lando Norris with three races to go, plus one Sprint race in Qatar. While it is mathematically possible for the McLaren driver to win the title, it will take a monumental disaster from Verstappen to lose his lead at this stage.
The Red Bull driver drove a sensational race from 17th to win the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, while mistakes from Norris left him down in sixth after starting on pole. Zak Brown says Norris need to be ‘less open’ about his weakness in his battle with Verstappen if he is to get the edge over the Dutchman.
McLaren currently lead the Constructors’ Championship over Ferrari by 36 points heading into Las Vegas, while Red Bull sit 13 points behind the Maranello outfit in third.
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