Filipe Massa has extremely large Brazilian boots to fill. Preceded by the likes of Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet and the late great Ayrton Senna, the prodigy, at the age of 21, had been thrust into the forefront under the watchful eyes of the Scuderia.

Massa started his career in 1990 and for about 8 years, took part in various national and international races. He got into the Brazilian Formula Chevrolet Championships in 1998, and got a 5th place finish at the end of the season.
Things were looking bright for this youngster as one thing led to another. In 1999, he was crowned the Brazilian Formula Chevrolet Champion after an enthralling season. He moved to Italy and took part in the Formula Renault championships and the European Formula Renault Series. Incredibly, he won both these competitions to finish a highly successful 2000 season.

He moved into the Formula 3000 series in 2001. In 8 races, he started from the pole position on 6 occasions and ended up winning 6 out of the eight races in the season, winning the entire championship in the process. His great season led him to Sauber Petronas with whom, Massa took part in numerous testing activities through the 2001 season. Impressed by his performances, Sauber gave him the opportunity to race in Formula1, in 2002.
In his very first season, Massa scored 5 championship points with a fifth place finish in Spain being his best performance. Despite a promising performance, Heinz-Harald Frentzen replaced Massa at Sauber in 2003. So for 2004, it seemed as if Massa would not get any action until the prancing horse stepped in. Team principal for Ferrari, Jean Todt realised the potential of the young Brazilian and signed him on as a test driver. Todt knew that Massa had the potential to become a part of the Italian giants at some stage and so, began the entire process of giving him enough experience and exposure at the big league.

Ferrari's dealings with Sauber ensured that Massa got another shot at the big stage in 2004 and 2005. At an extremely tedious Belgian Grand Prix, he got a well-earned fourth place and gave a hint at what the future held for this Brazilian. He managed only a 12th place finish in 2004 and 2005 was no better, with a 13th place finish.
But Todt had seen enough and knew that the time was right for the Scuderia outfit to invite Massa as the Partner to a retiring Schumacher.

Massa's start with Ferrari was impressive. He seemed to be enjoying his time with a faster and more powerful machine and slowly, as the season went on, Massa got accustomed to the situation and began pulling out the heavy artillery. He started picking up podium finishes at the Nurburgring, at Magny Cours, in France; at the US Grand Prix and at Hockenheim. He finished the season with a mind-blowing race at the extremely difficult Suzuka circuit as well as a win at his home Grand Prix, in Brazil.

Kimi Raikkonen who joined Massa in 2007 will be together for the next season as well. Massa will again be the second driver for the Italian Team and like 2007, will look to provide strong support to the now reigning World Champion, Raikkonen. However, it won't be surprising to see the Brazilian vie for some races himself as he just goes from strength to strength with Ferrari. Contracted till 2010, Ferrari will be hoping nothing but the best from their number two driver.