Top 10 F1 drivers with the most race starts

#6 - Felipe Massa (269)

Felipe Massa came out of his brief retirement for one last season in 2017

15 full seasons of F1 racing places Felipe Massa sixth on the all-time list of F1 appearance makers. Massa joined Formula 1 in 2002 with the Sauber team and he immediately impressed Ferrari, so much so that the Brazilian spent the next season as a test driver with the Scuderia.

2004 and 2005 were middling years for Massa, as he returned to drive for Sauber but couldn't quite reach the podium, although he did manage a couple of fourth places, no mean feat in that car.

2006 saw Massa drive for Ferrari alongside Schumacher, a year that would see him pick up his first win in Turkey and also win his home race at the final round in Brazil. The following year brought Kimi Raikkonen to the team, and although Massa was solid, he couldn't quite manage a title challenge. That was until 2008, however...

Felipe managed a very impressive six wins that year as he duked it out with Hamilton for the title and appeared to have won it in Brazil until a last-corner overtake by Hamilton saw the Brit win his first world championship.

That seemed to be unlucky, but it's a miracle that Massa continued in F1 after his horrifying crash with a spring in Hungary in 2009. That saw Massa sit on the sidelines for the rest of the year, but he returned in 2010 to partner Alonso.

In truth, Massa was never the same driver after his accident, never returning to the top step of the podium despite driving some winning cars. He remained at Ferrari until 2013, when he joined his final team in F1, Williams.

Massa had some good chances to win as the Grove outfit enjoyed a revival under new regulations but Mercedes were just too good. In 2016 Massa announced his retirement but he surprisingly returned for 2017, as Williams needed an experienced driver to partner Lance Stroll.