Massa raced in national and international karting races from 1990 to 1997 before entering the Brazilian Formula Chevrolet Championship in 1998. The following year he won the series and moved across the sea in 2000 to compete in a European and Italian series.
Massa became contracted to Ferrari in 2001, but didn't make his race seat debut with the team until 2006 alongside Michael Schumacher. Prior to that, the Brazilian raced for Sauber, making his Formula One debut with the team at Australia in 2002. For one year in 2003, he left Sauber to be a test driver for Ferrari.
He returned to Sauber in 2004, finishing 12th in the standings. In 2005 he finished 13th in the standings.
The 2006 season was Massa's breakout campaign. Signing on to drive alongside Michael Schumacher at Ferrari, the Brazilian went on to finish third in the championship standings behind his impressive results, which included: three pole positions, seven podium finishes and two victories. In the final race of the season, the Grand Prix of Brazil, Massa made his countrymen proud en route to winning the pole and race - the first Brazilian to achieve the feat since the legendary Ayrton Senna did so in 1993.
In 2007, he drove alongside Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari. Despite winning three grands prix, he was overshadowed a bit by the battle for the championship between Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.
Massa had a rough start to the 2008 season but then came out strong winning the third race. He would go on to win five more races that season and lead the way in victories for the year. But it wasn't enough to gain him the title and despite winning his second Grand Prix of Brazil in the season finale, Massa finished one point behind Lewis Hamilton in the standings.
In total, Massa celebrated 10 podium finishes in 2008. He is signed with Ferrari through 2010.
