Oliver Rudgewick reports on the announcement of Team Brazil for the Race of Champions.
Formula One star Felipe Massa will team up with compatriot and reigning Formula E champion Nelson Piquet Jr in next month’s Race of Champions.
This will be Felipe Massa’s third appearance at the Race of Champions having competed in 2004 and 2005. The Brazilian was a semi-finalist in the latter, his best result at the event.
Nelson Piquet Jr has had only one previous appearance in the Race of Champions and was a quarter finalist in 2005.
Massa won 11 Formula One Grand Prix’s, and has accumulated 226 starts in his 13 year Formula One career.
He began his Formula One career at Sauber in 2002 pairing up with German driver Nick Heidfeld, but scored just four points in his opening season.
After a year testing at Ferrari, Massa retuned in 2004 partnering Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, the Italian outscored Massa that season, with the Brazilian managing to score 12 points out of the 34 scored by the team.
After another consistent year at Sauber, Massa was promoted to Ferrari for the 2006 season alongside seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher.
Massa’s first season at Ferrari was successful. He secured his first pole position and victory at the Turkish Grand Prix, which was followed up by a victory at his home race.
In 2007, Massa picked up another three race wins in Bahrain, Turkey and Spain, but in the following year Massa would put up his best chance for challenging for the world title.
After a stunning 2008 Formula One World championship, the race for the title came down to the final race.
The fight for glory was between Hamilton and Massa, and the Brazilian put himself on pole position in front of his home crowd.
If Massa won the race, Hamilton only needed to finish in fifth place to take the title. Massa led from the front and dominated the race.
As he crossed the line in front of the jubilant Brazilian crowd, Massa didn’t know if he had won the championship.
Hamilton was struggling in sixth place on the final lap, which would give Massa the championship by virtue of more race wins.
However, on the last corner, Hamilton passed a struggling Timo Glock and finished in the fifth place he needed taking the title away from the Brazilian.
Massa’s 2009 season was cut short by a horrific injury in the second qualifying session, as a suspension spring fell off Brawn racing’s Ruben Barrichello’s car and hit Massa in the head. The seriousness of his injuries meant that he missed the rest of the season.
Massa returned to the sport in 2010 teaming up with Spaniard Fernando Alonso, and ended up finishing sixth on the leader board with five podiums.
After three more unsuccessful seasons at Ferrari, Massa moved to Williams and partnered Finn Valtteri Bottas.
Bottas impressed in his first rookie year outscoring Massa by 54 points, as the Finn finished fourth and Massa finished seventh in the Driver’s standings.
Massa stayed on at Williams for the 2015 and is currently sixth in the Driver’s Championship two points behind Bottas.
Speaking to the Race of Champions Massa said: “I really enjoyed my appearances in Paris and I’m overdue a return to meet up with many of the world’s best racers from all the different championships.
Nelson Piquet Jr started his Formula One career in 2008 at Renault after being a test driver the year prior and partnered Alonso.
Piquet Jr gained his first podium at the German Grand Prix as he finished his rookie season 12th.
Piquet Jr retained his seat for the 2009 season but only completed ten races and was replaced by Roman Grosjean.
Later that year the FIA investigated claims that in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Piquet Jr deliberately crashed his car in order to let his teammate Alonso claim the victory.
This led to team principle Flavio Briatore being given a lifetime ban from Formula One which was overturned in 2010.
The Singapore incident cut short his Formula One career.
After four years in Nascar Piquet Jr moved to Formula E in 2014 taking part in the inaugural season for Team China Racing.
Piquet Jr was involved in all 11 races, his first race win came in Long Beach, 30 years after his father Nelson Piquet Sr won in Formula One. He claimed his second Formula E race win in Moscow.
The Brazilian went into the London double header leading the championship. After a crazy two days Piquet finished fifth and seventh to become the first ever Formula E champion, just a point ahead of former Formula One driver Sebastien Buemi.
Piquet Jr also added: “It’s been a brilliant year for me and there is no better way of rounding it off than an appearance at the Race of Champions. I already have plenty of happy memories of London from this year as it was the scene for the Formula E finale in June.”