Valeu Felipe, it was truly a great trip!

“It is said that the slightest flap of a butterfly's wings can cause a hurricane on the other side of the world.” And who knows which butterfly flapped its wings clumsily to cause the unfortunate storm of Sao Paulo 2008, the one that condemned Felipe Massa to always remain only a vice world champion, despite the crowd had exploded to greet the new Brazilian world champion.

Thanks Felipe, it was really nice, for his career, for the emotions he gave, but also and above all for his generosity, his dedication to the cause (Ferrari), his loyalty, his always transparent character. The news of the retirement caught us off guard, because Felipe is an eternal boy, the one from the golden years of Ferrari, like the mature driver of the last three years at Williams. It's not just any driver who retires, but a man who made everyone love him, which is difficult in F1, and who, in addition to a highly respectable palmares, also leaves a sweet, sincere memory of mirrored and proven honesty.

It seems like yesterday when, already fast, he caused trouble with Sauber in 2002. Impetuous, they said. The Ferrari cure arrived, one year (2003) as a test driver and then back to Sauber for a positive two years which earned him the call of a lifetime, that of Ferrari, this time as owner, alongside Michael Schumacher in 2006. It was there that the public realized that Massa had real qualities, as a born and consummate poleman and as a driver capable of being a hare and winning races. Senna's little heir in pectore, finally a prophet in his homeland, the "number" that he never managed to achieve older brother Barrichello, a very young Felipe took the satisfaction of winning in his native Brazil, under the eyes of an emotional Schumi in his last race (at least it seemed so...).

The Ferrari epic had begun, the years of the lucky one diarchy with Kimi Raikkonen. So different, so similar, in their being professional, Ferrari fans to the core, somehow complementary. Two Constructors' titles for Maranello and one Drivers' title, that of Raikkonen in 2007. In 2008 the world championship would have been deserved by Felipe, in full harmony with an F2008 that seemed tailor-made for him. Pole and victories, six, impressive speed, high school numbers. But also an adverse, fatal Lady Luck, probably in love with the challenger Lewis Hamilton. And so Felipe had to endure the engine failure in Hungary just a few kilometers from a wonderful and well-deserved victory, not to mention that damned refueling pipe in Singapore, the real tombstone of the 2008 world championship. The final joke, the sliding doors that marked Massa as a driver and man, were the last two corners of San Paolo. Glock in tire crisis, Hamilton passing and farewell. Never was a victory more melancholic, moving, heartbreaking than that triumph emptied of all meaning, yet "celebrated" with all the Paulista pride, with the hand on the chest and eyes full of tears.

And we like to remember Felipe like this, the proud 2008 world (moral) champion, because a driver's career is not judged by one point more or less in the standings. After all, the lives of all of us are the result of who knows how many sliding doors, and the sliding doors of the Brazilian elf brought him many joys but also pains. He could have been world champion and yet not even eight months later Massa was lying in hospital with his face shattered by a spring fired at two hundred per hour by a Brawn GP. In that accident perhaps we lost a small part of the best Felipe, that of youthful recklessness, of the lost-life ride, and frankly it's all there. The years of living with Fernando Alonso were difficult, if not impossible. The Spanish champion is too cumbersome for Felipe, a Latin rider who is used to being pampered by the team. The defeat at Hockenheim 2010, a few podiums here and there, but more due to inertia than real will and then yet another rebirth, unexpected, bombastic, at the wheel of Williams. Consistency, placings and podiums to end a splendid career on a high note, and with a glorious team.

“And I looked inside an emotion and I saw so much love in it, that I understood why you can't command the heart. And that's fine, without words." Obrigado Felipe, thanks for giving us emotions in fourteen seasons of F1. Thank you for giving us a dream, and it doesn't matter if it was broken at the most beautiful moment.

Antonino Rendina

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