Felipe Massa explains what Fernando Alonso did that led to one of the ‘saddest days’ of his life

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Felipe Massa had an incredible Formula 1 career and is arguably the last great Brazilian driver to race in the sport.

After making his debut with Sauber in 2002, Felipe Massa went on to race for 14 consecutive seasons in F1 before stepping away from the sport at the end of the 2017 campaign.

During that time, Massa only raced for three teams: Sauber, Ferrari and Williams.

His short stint at Sauber is remembered for being an erratic but rapid young driver fresh from winning nearly every junior series he competed in on the way to Formula 1.

That was enough to earn a seat at Ferrari where he enjoyed plenty of success during his first few campaigns.

However, just after missing out on the 2008 world championship to Lewis Hamilton, Massa suffered a serious injury the following year during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

He was hit in the head by a loose suspension string from Rubens Barrichello’s car, ruling him out until the beginning of the 2010 campaign.

Speaking to Motorsport.com, Massa has now shared his feelings on his return to F1 following that accident.

His Ferrari teammate at the time was Fernando Alonso and after Massa’s crash, he became the de facto number-one driver for the Italian team.

This led to one incident that Massa has since described as one of the saddest days of his life.

The Brazilian never won another Grand Prix after his accident in Hungary and while he went on to race for Ferrari until 2013 before having a very successful spell with Williams, he couldn’t even reach the same heights as before his terrifying crash.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory

Felipe Massa shares more details about one of the ‘saddest days’ of his life involving Fernando Alonso

Speaking about his return to Formula 1 after his huge crash, Massa said: “Nobody ever told me I wasn’t the same. Of course, I was criticised a lot in the press, because after my accident I didn’t win another race in F1. But I came close several times.

“Unfortunately, I was denied victory in Germany (when he was ordered to let Fernando Alonso pass), in the race that took place exactly one year after my accident, on 25 July 2010.

“It was one of the saddest days of my life. After that, I lived a different period, because I no longer had a competitive car to fight for victories as before.”

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What happened at the 2010 German Grand Prix as Fernando Alonso took victory from Felipe Massa?

The 2010 German Grand Prix was held at the Hockenheimring and was the 11^th round of the season.

McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button were battling at the top of the Drivers’ Championship but both Red Bull drivers – Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber – and Alonso were still in contention to win the title at this stage.

Ferrari had a phenomenal weekend, qualifying 2^nd and 3^rd behind Vettel with both McLaren starting on the third row.

Massa got an imperious start, swooping past Vettel and Alonso to take the lead and he held onto the position before heading into the pits.

The two Ferrari drivers traded fastest lap times before Rob Smedley delivered a now infamous radio message to Massa that’s still acknowledged to his day.

The Ferrari race engineer said on lap 48: “OK, so, Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?”

Smedley was later heard apologising to Massa as one lap later Alonso took the lead and the Brazilian was tasked with keeping a charging Vettel at bay, which he did successfully to secure a fantastic one-two finish for Ferrari.

However, that wasn’t the end of the story, with Ferrari fined £64,700 for violating the FIA’s sporting code and it didn’t go down well in the paddock.

Eddie Jordan said after the race, via RTE, at the time that it felt like ‘theft’ and that the orders were ‘unlawful’.

The incident was so controversial that team orders were banned the following season but Massa never got the chance to stand on the top step of the podium again after such a phenomenal performance that day.