Massa to leave Ferrari with head held high

Felipe Massa tonight announced that he is to leave Ferrari at the end of the 2013 season after eight years racing for the Scuderia to be replaced by Kimi Raikkonen. He should leave with his head held high, because despite recent years of comparative un-competitiveness, his career at was a remarkable one which almost saw him claim the world championship.

Massa came into Formula 1 as a wild driver. First at Sauber in 2002, he had great speed but too often wasted it or over drove the car. He was test driver at Ferrari in 2003 before heading back to the Sauber race seat for two more years of steadily improving performances.

In 2006 he partnered Michael Schumacher, out qualifying and out racing him on a few occasions, before Kimi Raikkonen joined the team a year later. Everyone thought Massa would get blown away by the Finn, that he’d just be a support driver.

Not a bit of it. Massa is an emotional driver and he needed someone to help him. His combination with his race engineer Rob Smedley is one of the most endearing pairings in Formula 1. Smedley helped provide Massa with a stability and almost psychological guidance that focused him on the job and didn’t let him get down when things didn’t go his way.

But races fell to him, in 2007 he scored three wins, but he wasn’t quite ready for a full on title attack as Kimi grabbed the glory. In 2008 he drove even better, outperforming a misfiring Kimi to become the lead Ferrari driver. Yes there were still bad moments, but he recovered from them and kept coming back. At times, when he lead away from pole, you'd be forgiven for thinking the race was won. He won the final race and was on the verge of history.

He was literally one corner from taking the title in Brazil, but suffered heart break as Lewis Hamilton grabbed the place he needed on the final lap to take it away from him. The memories of two lost victories through no fault of his own will surely haunt him.

But his composure and dignity as he took to the podium showed what a great sportsman he was, surely his time would come? But for some drivers you only get one shot. In my opinion that shouldn’t have been the case for Massa. He was still on an upward curve and despite Ferrari producing a poor car for 2009, Massa showed class and should have won the Chinese Grand Prix if it hadn’t been for a mechanical problem.

A loose spring from Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn car in Hungary hit Massa in the head fracturing his skull, and I’m afraid to say he just hasn’t been the same driver since. I have no doubt that despite the phenomenon that is Fernando Alonso, Massa would have been able to give him a much better run for his money than has been the case.

It’s not just that though, there have been occasional flashes of his speed, but nothing as consistent as he was becoming. The ‘Fernando is faster than you’ team order in Germany when Massa gave up the win cemented him as the number two, and he’s suffered for it.

It’s ironic that Kimi, the driver he ended up beating is to replace him. However, this need not be the end for Felipe in Formula 1. I think that take him out of the pressure cooker environment of Ferrari and place him in a smaller team could allow him to thrive once again.

Sadly though, the decision to end their association is the right one. If anything he should have gone last year, perhaps then he might have secured a stronger drive than he might now get. But that doesn’t mean his career at Ferrari isn’t something to be massively proud of.

all photo's taken from autosport.com