Felipe Massa has announced his retirement from Formula 1 for the second time at the end of this season. The Brazilian quit F1 at the closure of last year too but was lured by his current team Williams to comeback for replacing Valtteri Bottas who stepped up to Mercedes.
With 267 Grand Prix starts, he has scored 36 points this season, four fewer than teammate Lance Stroll. Williams, which underperformed the whole season, is in no rush to announce who will partner Stroll next year as Robert Kubica, Paul di Resta and Pascal Wehrlein are in contention.
Massa was keen to know the team’s decision before his home race in Brazil. He questioned the credibility of both Kubica and di Resta as potential candidates for a seat at Williams next year and use of testing them in a 2014-spec machine. With him retiring, Kubica and di Resta are now the frontrunners to get the seat.
During his 15-year stint in F1, Massa has scored 11 victories, 41 podiums, 16 pole positions and finished runner-up to Lewis Hamilton in the 2008 drivers’ championship. Massa has always been regarded as a great ambassador to the sport and praised as an all around nice guy in the paddock. He is preparing for an emotional farewell at his home race in Brazil this weekend.
