Felipe Massa admits he ‘suffered’ racing against one teammate during his time with Ferrari

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Driving for Ferrari is one of the most high-pressure situations a Formula 1 driver can put themselves in.

The glare of the Italian press is constant and every mistake is brutally analysed both on and off the track.

Some of the greatest drivers in the history of the sport have raced for Ferrari with Michael Schumacher being their most successful driver.

The German won five straight Drivers’ Championships with the Scuderia and returned the team to their former glory, something that has since disappeared in recent years.

His final teammate at Ferrari was Felipe Massa, who was speaking about his time with the team on UOL Esporte’s YouTube channel.

The Brazilian driver was a corner away from winning a championship of his own before Lewis Hamilton overtook Timo Glock at his home race at Interlagos to curtail jubilant celebrations in his garage.

Massa never had a better opportunity to win a world championship but did still have a very successful F1 career.

And while he admits that Ferrari was built around Schumacher during his time with the team, Massa struggled a lot more when driving against Fernando Alonso.

Massa had been at Ferrari for four seasons before Alonso arrived in 2010 and the pair got off to the best possible start by securing a one-two finish at the opening race of that year in Bahrain.

However, after four years of driving together, Ferrari had failed to win another Constructors’ Championship – a run that’s still ongoing – and neither driver was able to end the domination of Sebastian Vettel.

Felipe Massa admits he really ‘suffered’ driving alongside Fernando Alonso at Ferrari

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After talking about how much he learned from racing alongside Michael Schumacher in 2006, Massa said: “It’s not easy because you know you’re alongside the number one [Michael Schumacher] and everything the power a driver like that has is very big within the team.

“If he decides to do something, the team will do it. Then at work, it’s not easy and sometimes you have to swallow some things which are not easy.

“But I think that at the time, I suffered a lot more with [Fernando] Alonso than with him for example.

“With him [Schumacher], it was a very big situation where Ferrari was investing in a young man like me and also, he is at the end of his moment in Formula 1 and also at Ferrari.”

READ MORE: Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso’s life outside F1 from net worth to Cars 2

Felipe Massa’s impressive Formula 1 career

After winning Euro Formula 3000 in 2001, Massa earned a call-up to the Sauber team the following year to make his Formula 1 debut.

He became Ferrari’s test driver the following year before returning to Sauber in 2004 and after two campaigns he returned to Maranello.

Massa was the heir to Michael Schumacher’s dominance and was his teammate during what was expected to be his final season in Formula 1 before his surprise return to action with Mercedes.

The Brazilian went on to win 11 races in his F1 career, stand on the podium 41 times and take part in 272 Grand Prix weekends.

Massa discovered when Alonso joined Ferrari that although he had a prior relationship with the team, the Spaniard was the quicker driver.

That eventually led to Massa joining Williams and his partnership with Valtteri Bottas was arguably the last time the British team were competitive in F1.