Felipe Massa is very close to renewing his contract with Ferrari for a further three seasons, despite rumours that the Italian team is chasing the likes of Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel. The current contract runs out at the end of this year but Ferrari is keen to continue the arrangement and a contract has already been prepared and is expected to be signed shortly. This means that the relationship with Fernando Alonso will continue for at least two more years, as the Spanish driver has a deal that lasts until the end of 2012. Massa has been at Ferrari since 2006, although he was a test driver back in 2003. He did a year with Michael Schumacher, three with Kimi Raikkonen and is now embarked on a season alongside Alonso.
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joeblogsf1 
Good news! Massa is such an exiting driver.
Like Joe S I think Massa’s behaviour in Brazil in 2009 showed what a fine man he really is. His humility is so different to what we normally see from many motor racing drivers especially in F1. It would be great see to him win the Championship. Then we could say that nice guys do sometimes win!
This is interesting. Three seasons with a seat in Ferrari blocked. Do they really feel that there won’t be any better prospects? I’m not criticising Massa I’m just curious. So it’s definitely at least a further two seasons with both Alonso and Massa.
How he handled himself in 08 cemented the decent bloke tag. This year is showing his resiliance after the accident. But sorry Thomas in no way is Massa exciting!
Likeable guy but in the hard nosed world of F1 is he the best choice? Are Ferrari expecting Alonso to easily have the upper hand and simply need a solid no.2?
Anyway he’ll be cheap in comparision to Alonso so if they could ‘afford’ to pay off Kimi then when the right hotshot becomes available expect a change.
Good move by Ferrari, as a Massa fan i would have liked to see him move to another team and win (redbull, renault, Mercedes).
Joe, do you know if other teams were talking to him??
I think this is a good move for Ferrari and Massa. Massa is an excellent driver, in the same level as others such as Alonso and Hamilton (I think the main difference is just in the number of fans). A thing that I like about him is that he is still improving… most drivers reach a plateau after a few years, but he’s still improving.
I agree with TN… one day nice guys will win. Massa deserve one championship at least, but Ferrari has making lot’s of infantile mistakes in the last three seasons. I hope this year he has a good car to compete and show he’s same racer as Hamilton and Alonso (far way better than Button!)
great 2010 opening season.
Vinicius Paviani
Disappointing. I’d love to see Vettel or Kubica (or almost anyone) take his place.
I’m not particularly a fan of his but I think he’s done a great job for them, so I don’t see why they’d want to replace him. Good for him.
Great news!
There is little I would like to see in F1 more than Massa winning the championship, and now he has a great chance.
Virgopunk,
That doesn’t necessarily mean Massa will stay until the end of his contract – have you heard of Kimi Raikkonen?
I can’t believe they’d choose Massa over Kubica.
I don’t know if the rumors are true, but I’d really like him to continue with Ferrari. He is a great driver and belongs in the Scuderia.
So what happened to the rumors linking Robert Kubica to the Ferrari seat? I think I heard it on the BBC that Kubica wanted a one year deal at Renault as he was possibly moving to Ferrari for 2011.
felipe is a conplet driver and a credet to the sport and is allways a temen player a grat assit to ferrari
@virgopunk Do you really think that means the seat is blocked? Maybe somebody should tell Kimi that.
I’m sure Alonso would not be happy about Ferrari potentially pursuing a driver many would feel could challenge him.
With that said, he better not get too comfortable with Massa, considering the current championship standings.
I’m sure Robert Kubica would be saddened by this news.
Massa is a class driver for Ferrari – the team, the passion, the Latin nature all suit him and the fans adore him.
And – when all is said and done – he currently leads the championship despite not really having raced well yet!
Why change a consistent guy for no good reason.
If this indeed does happen, it will be wonderful news! Ferrari standing by Massa has shown great faith and character, much as Massa himself has after narrowly loosing the championship in 08 and nearly loosing his life last season. To have two podiums and be leading the WDC standings after 3 races shows just how much potential he still has. A nice guy who should bring home a WDC with Ferrari in the next couple of seasons if there’s any true justice in F1.
Sounds like a good choice as I think he has shown now that he is a lot better than people thought he was and he is a good person to be with Alonso as heis his own man and so won’t aggravate Alonso.
Massa is amazing!!! A warrior!!! Bring to Brazil the Formula Future Fiat, bring to Brazil the firt amazing contact with fans one week before start the SEASON 2010, with Santander!!!
Massa is the most regular´s driver today!!! 8 months ago, some doctors were saying that Massa’ will loosing his left eyes, and never more pilot like in the past!!! But not, today he is better than past years!!!
GO MASSA
THE NEW LEADER OF F1 2010
I suppose the theory is that Massa compliments Alonson (or any other challenging teammate). He got along well with Schumacher, he didn’t have problems with Raikkonen, and he appears to be getting along with Alonso with minimal fuss. Alonso will expect to be the #1 driver, but as long as he beats Massa over the course of the season by a significant quantity (which most expect will happen) he will be pleasant enough.
Massa is a very good loser – he’s not going to spit the dummy. Vettel & Kubica are hardly likely to be so humble and loyal; they’re built in the Alonso mould of winning is everything.
If Vettel drives for Ferrari it will be another 10 years of Ferrari dominance repeating the schumi years & i personally think he should if Ferrai want to still be number 1
Great great news. I am a mega Felipe fan and all i can say is he deserves that seat more than anyone and he WILL win the world championship within the next 3-4 seasons!
Virgopunk I kind of agree but Massa does take a lot of s**t from Ferrari and I can’t see Kubica matching him in that way.
If Hamilton was available he would be first on their list.
Hmmm, this is surprising to say the least. I thought they were already in talks with Kubica.
Massa’s a lovely guy and a competant driver, but he’s no world champion and certainly not in the top 8 or so drivers on the grid at the moment.
Makes sense. They are banking on Alonso to bring them WDC’s and Massa is the perfect No2 driver.
The significance is presumably that they recognise that with Alonso in the team they can’t hire Hamilton, and also that Vettell is well ensconced where he is as Red Bull are so good already and possibly gravitating towards Mercedes. So they might as well stick with somebody that Alonso is comfortable with.
You might think there was no rush, as it’s hardly likely that anybody is trying to lure Massa away. But now might be quite a good time to send a reassuring message to Alonso, after he has spent the last two races discovering that Ferrari won’t move Massa over, even when he is holding up the team’s faster driver.
And the stable Ferrari + McLaren lineups freeze the driver market for a couple of seasons. Not that I mind, skill developments, working relationships are easier to see this way. I just hope Renault becomes a top team soon, I’d be sorry to see Kubica waste his best years.
I like Felipe Baby a lot, for all the reasons mentioned above, but Ferrari have shown only last year they are prepared to ditch a driver mid contract for the right man. If Ferrari can lock in (for example) Vettel for 3 years you think they would not out of a sense of loyalty to a mid-contract Massa?
Not likely.
Massa as been great for Ferrari, l thought he deserved to win the championship, but luck was not with him
hope all of you gys are fine i want to ask that massa is a great driver and i like him so much i just want to say that plz massa improve yur pace because yu r realy a good driver and yu become champion as well in this season 2010 try to concentrate on yur errors and work on them and definently yu will win best of luk to yu for this season