Source: REUTERS / CARLA CARNIEL
[Saba Sports News] According to Dutch magazine “F1,” former Ferrari F1 driver Felipe Massa has opened two upscale restaurants in his hometown of Sao Paulo after retiring. One of the restaurants is a Chinese restaurant named “Song Qi,” which features signature dishes like steamed scallops and Peking duck. The other restaurant is called “Beefbar,” touted as “the best steakhouse in Brazil.” Current F1 drivers, including Charles Leclerc and Valtteri Bottas, have dined there. Massa stated that Sao Paulo’s streets are filled with Japanese restaurants, but there isn’t a good Chinese restaurant. To fill this gap, he opened this upscale Chinese restaurant. It is reported that to provide guests with a special experience, Massa arranged for the restaurant’s Brazilian chefs to undergo two months of culinary training in Europe. Records show that Massa had retired once during the 2016 season but returned in 2017 due to Nico Rosberg’s sudden retirement and Bottas’s transfer. He officially exited the racing world after participating in the FIA Formula E Championship from 2018 to 2019 without significant achievements. After that, he opened these two restaurants.