Born in São Paulo and raised in Botucatu, Massa started his career in karting aged eight, winning national and regional championships before progressing to junior formulae in 1998.

At the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, Massa was seriously injured during qualifying when a suspension spring from the Brawn BGP 001 of Rubens Barrichello struck his helmet at 162 mph (261 km/h), and was replaced by Luca Badoer and Giancarlo Fisichella for the remainder of the 2009 season.

In an August 2022 interview, Massa revealed that after Sauber was taken over by BMW, they offered him a 3-year contract with the team, however Ferrari exercised their option on him to replace the outgoing Rubens Barrichello, who had signed for Honda for the 2006 season.

Massa's problems continued in Malaysia, where despite qualifying on pole position, the McLarens of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton overtook him at turn one.

[14] At the Chinese Grand Prix the following week Massa and teammate Räikkönen struggled for pace the entire weekend, a situation which Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali could not explain.

As Räikkönen yielded second place to keep Massa's title hopes alive, Hamilton pulled his lead out to seven points in the Drivers' Championship.

Although Massa managed to stay in the top 3 for the first half of the race, the exceptionally quick graining of the super soft tyres forced him into a 3 stop strategy.

After qualifying a disappointing 8th, Massa produced a mistake free drive to net his first podium position of the season with a 3rd place at the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring.

On 25 July 2009, in the second round of qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, Massa's head, though protected by his driver's helmet, was struck by a suspension spring that had fallen from Rubens Barrichello's Brawn, on a high-speed part of the track.

Ferrari consultant and seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher was asked to take over Massa's race seat during his recovery,[26] but his comeback was prevented by neck injuries sustained during a motorcycle accident earlier in the year.

The successful completion of these tests led to the announcement by Ferrari that Massa would, from 12 October 2009 be driving a 2007 Formula One car in order to continue re-acclimatising to racing.

At the 2010 German Grand Prix Ferrari were investigated for team orders as Massa took the race lead early, ahead of Fernando Alonso in second and Sebastian Vettel close behind in third.

A lack of pace dropped Massa down the order to an eventual ninth-place finish, which became seventh after the Saubers of Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Pérez were disqualified.

The Malaysian Grand Prix saw a better performance from Massa, who qualified seventh and showed greatly improved race pace, particularly on the soft Pirelli tyres.

In China, Massa improved again; at one point looking like challenging for the race win, before settling for sixth as Ferrari's two-stop strategy did not suit the conditions.

He made a great start after his teammate Alonso retired at the first corner of the first lap, and went on to finish in 2nd position, his first podium since the 2010 Korean Grand Prix.

In the race Massa got up to second place before the first round of pitstops, but he pitted a lap later than the other leaders, so he fell back down the order, so despite the early pace that he showed, only managed to finish sixth.

He then jumped Red Bull's Mark Webber and Sauber's Nico Hülkenberg who qualified in a brilliant 3rd when the best he had managed all season was 10th in a slow car.

The string of bad luck continued in Malaysia after a team orders debacle, being caught out by the safety car in Bahrain, a botched pitstop in China and a collision with Sergio Pérez in Canada.

He suffered from mechanical issues both on the grid in Bahrain and in qualifying in Canada, meaning he had to fight from towards the back on each occasion, albeit eventually finishing both races in the points.

Round 4, the Russian Grand Prix, saw Massa qualifying in fifth place, but he was promoted to fourth after Scuderia Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel was given a five-place grid penalty after changing his gearbox.

One week later, at the European Grand Prix, the first Formula One race to be held in Azerbaijan, Massa struggled during the practice sessions, but managed to qualify sixth.

As the track began to dry, Massa switched to the intermediates, but aquaplaned at Turn 4 and made heavy contact with the barrier, which brought his session to an end.

However, a virtual safety car was deployed due to Max Verstappen's retirement allowing Carlos Sainz Jr an advantage to move ahead into fifth place.

In the wet race, Massa was making good progress in the treacherous conditions until he crashed out of what was expected to be at the time his last home Grand Prix on lap 47, prompting emotional scenes as he was cheered by fans whilst being given a guard of honour by other teams as he walked back down the pitlane.

Two weeks later in Azerbaijan, Massa qualified in 9th behind his teammate Lance Stroll for the first time that season and ahead of the eventual race winner Daniel Ricciardo.

[56] At the Brazilian Grand Prix, his home race, he finished a strong 7th after overtaking Fernando Alonso on the fifth lap for 5th place but lost out to Daniel Ricciardo and Lewis Hamilton who were coming through the field.

2017 was a difficult year for Williams as a whole due to a lack of downforce (affecting tyre wear to an extent) from the car in addition to poor wet weather drivability as shown in races such as China where Massa started 6th but finished outside of the points.

[58] One month after his retirement from Formula E, Massa participated in the Porsche GT3 Cup Brasil endurance series, sharing a car with 2016 champion Lico Kaesemodel.

[71] In March 2023, in an interview with German website F1-Insider, former Formula One Group chief executive Bernie Ecclestone was quoted saying that both he and then-FIA president Max Mosley were made aware of Renault's deliberate manipulation of the Singapore Grand Prix "during the 2008 season".