Felipe Massa announced Tuesday on Twitter, via an Instagram post, he will no longer be driving for Ferrari in 2014.
Massa wrote: “From 2014 i will no longer be driving for Ferrari. I would like to thank the team for all the victories and incredible moments experienced together. Thank you also to my wife and all of my family, to my fans and all my Sponsors. From each one of you I have always received a great support! Right now I want to push as hard as possible with Ferrari for the remaining 7 races. For next year, I want to find a team that can give me a competitive car to win many more races and challenge for the Championship which remains my greatest objective! Thank you all. Felipe.”
Massa joined the team in 2006 and has won 11 Grands Prix for the team, although none since the memorable 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, a race he famously won but lost the World Championship to Lewis Hamilton on the last lap.
Massa’s injuries sustained at Hungary in 2009 cost him the rest of the season and upon his return to the team, with new teammate Fernando Alonso in 2010, Massa was never able to regain the same level of competitiveness. He was forced to move aside for Alonso in the 2010 German Grand Prix, a race he was leading at the time, thanks to the infamous “Fernando is faster than you” radio message transmitted by the team.
It’s been a shame in some respects because the team held firm to Massa from 2006, when he joined as Michael Schumacher’s “little brother,” to nearly winning the 2008 title, to coming back after his injuries.
He was particularly on form the second half of 2012 when he outqualified Alonso in several events towards the end of the season, but ultimately, too inconsistent in terms of big points-scoring results and podiums to keep his seat any further.
Whether Massa is able to fulfill his wish of a new team with a competitive car – at least in F1 terms – for 2014 is now the question mark. Lotus figures to have an opening because Kimi Raikkonen has been inextricably linked to Massa’s seat, and this announcement likely pushes that rumor forward.
But as it is, Massa’s departure will certainly mean the end of a Brazilian number 2 at Ferrari – something the team has had since 2000, when Rubens Barrichello joined Michael Schumacher to begin the Scuderia’s reign of dominance atop Formula One.