Felipe Massa powered by thrill of the competition in Formula E

He competed in 269 Formula One races, won 11 of them, and for a few seconds at the end of the 2008 season it looked like he was about to become world champion.

Now, Felipe Massa is taking on a new challenge in Formula E.

The 37-year-old Brazilian, who left F1 at the end of the 2017 season, has signed to race for the Venturi team and will make his debut in the all-electric championship when its fifth season begins later this year.

He was on hand in Zurich and New York for the final two rounds of the 2017-18 season and has tested the Gen2 car, a leap forward for all-electric race cars that will be introduced to FE from next season.

“I was always interested in maybe being in Formula E as I said many times when I was still racing in F1,” explained Massa. “So I did a test a year and a half ago for Jaguar, but then I carried on for another year [in F1 in 2017].”

READ: F1 pioneer makes electrifying career change

But Massa ultimately decided FE would be the next stop in a long career which has included eight years with Ferrari and four more at Williams.

“The thing that I miss most is the competition,” says Massa, who enjoyed 15 seasons racing in F1, a more glamorous and storied form of motorsport but one which has been criticized for a lack of overtaking in races.

That is one criticism that could not be leveled against FE during its first four seasons.

“When you’re talking about proper competition, I think Formula E has good competition,” he adds.

Indeed, Massa says it is that close competition that led him to chose FE over the World Endurance Championship, where his former Ferrari teammate Fernando Alonso enjoyed success in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race with Toyota Gazoo Racing – which dominated the classification.

“I’m not really a big fan of a championship that maybe has [only] one team racing – like maybe LMP1, which I think is maybe the best car after F1 to race,” Massa says. “This is something that I was not really interested in. All the ideas around [FE], after I finished my career in F1 – it is interesting.”

Thanks to his F1 success, and running Lewis Hamilton so close to that world title in 2008, Massa is arguably the most high-profile driver so far to join FE’s ranks.

Jacques Villeneuve trumps his success status thanks to his 1997 world championship triumph, but Massa is probably a more recognizable name among the younger fans that FE is aiming to attract.

But, at Venturi, Massa has picked a tough place to begin his FE adventure. The team has not won a race in the four seasons held so far and finished seventh in the recently concluded 2017-18 championship, with Maro Engel, who ended the season 12th, the best-placed of its racers in the drivers’ standings.

Photos: Former F1 champion Nico Rosberg takes Formula E Gen2 car for a spin in Berlin

Former Formula One world champion Nico Rosberg treated fans at the Berlin E-Prix with the first public demonstration of the futuristic Gen 2 car. It will be raced in the all-electric Formula E series for its fifth season, which starts later this year.

PHOTO: Courtesy Formula E

Photos: Former F1 champion Nico Rosberg takes Formula E Gen2 car for a spin in Berlin

Rosberg took the car around the streets of Berlin -- from the Brandenburg Gate to Checkpoint Charlie -- and even put it through its paces at Tempelhof Airport circuit.

PHOTO: Courtesy Formula E

Photos: Former F1 champion Nico Rosberg takes Formula E Gen2 car for a spin in Berlin

Formula E says the Gen2 car "boasts a futuristic new-look for Formula E, but also shows a clear jump in performance over a race distance and almost double the engine storage capacity."

PHOTO: Courtesy Formula E

Photos: Former F1 champion Nico Rosberg takes Formula E Gen2 car for a spin in Berlin

"It is a huge step in technology and innovation," Rosberg told CNN's Superchaged. "It was exciting to drive through the city -- through my capital city -- past the landmarks, and I did a donut as well in the middle of the city, so that was cool."

PHOTO: Courtesy Formula E

Photos: Former F1 champion Nico Rosberg takes Formula E Gen2 car for a spin in Berlin

Since retiring in 2016, Rosberg has become an investor and shareholder in Formula E.

PHOTO: Courtesy Formula E

Photos: Former F1 champion Nico Rosberg takes Formula E Gen2 car for a spin in Berlin

It was Rosberg's first public appearance since winning the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with Mercedes -- which will be joining the Formula E grid for the 2019-20 season, adding to speculation that Rosberg could be returning to the track -- but he was quick to shut down rumors.

PHOTO: Courtesy Formula E

Photos: Former F1 champion Nico Rosberg takes Formula E Gen2 car for a spin in Berlin

Viewers will be able to watch the Gen2's official debut when the fifth Formula E season begins in Saudi Arabia later this year.

PHOTO: Courtesy Formula E

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READ: Why FE is the most exciting motorsport

He will work together will new Venturi team boss Susie Wolff – his former Williams teammate – and is nevertheless confident heading into his new challenge.

“When it is a new season, a new car, it’s a big change for everybody, so it is impossible to say who is going to win the championship next year,” he says. “But if you see everything that the team is preparing, it’s quite interesting and I really hope that we can have a competitive car.

“It’s true that Venturi have never won a race, but they were very close to winning [last] season and they’ve managed some very good results as well.”

Massa is already making his mark at Venturi, with team technical director Franck Baldet, saying he is “a very open-minded colleague”.

“He’s learning as much as possible how to manage the energy, because it’s different compared to F1,” added Baldet. “[But] his background in F1 is also helping us, so we are in a situation where we are all learning from each other and we are making big progress.”

But FE is a famously tough category – Villeneuve lasted all of three events – and its unpredictable nature and street circuit settings means there is little margin for error.

For season five, new brake-by-wire technology may make braking easier and perhaps reduce the number of driver errors, but Massa will still be four seasons behind many of his opponents in terms of race experience.

Crucially, however, he accepts that he and Venturi may not achieve instant success.

Photos: Brazilian announces F1 retirement

A year after calling time on his long and storied Formula One career, veteran driver Felipe Massa is returning to the track in Formula E. The Brazilian is set to join Formula E team Venturi in the all-electric series for the 2018/19 season.

PHOTO: Clive Rose/Getty Images Europe/Getty Images

Photos: Brazilian announces F1 retirement

Having spent his formative years racing karts in his native Brazil, Massa got his big break in Formula One with Swiss-based Team Sauber, making his debut in the 2002 Australian Grand Prix and taking his first F1 points just one race later in Malaysia.

PHOTO: AFP/Getty Images

Photos: Brazilian announces F1 retirement

Switching to Ferrari in 2006, Massa replaced Honda-bound compatriot Rubens Barrichello and enjoyed his maiden podium with a third-place finish at the European Grand Prix. He followed that up with second places in the United States and Germany, partnering the legendary Michael Schumacher in the German's last ever championship campaign in the iconic red.

PHOTO: Getty Images

Photos: Brazilian announces F1 retirement

And that elusive first Formula 1 victory came soon after, as Massa took the plaudits in Turkey after his maiden pole position. Ferrari retained the Brazilian after a series of other impressive performances.

PHOTO: Lars Baron/Bongarts/Bongarts/Getty Images

Photos: Brazilian announces F1 retirement

He would go on to enjoy his most successful period on the track with Ferarri, as the Brazilian clocked up 11 race wins and 36 podiums. Just a single point separated Massa from the championship in 2008 as he pushed McLaren's Lewis Hamilton (right) all the way.

PHOTO: MAURICIO LIMA/AFP/AFP/Getty Images

Photos: Brazilian announces F1 retirement

But the Brazilian was victim of a terrible accident in the summer of 2009, careering off the circuit in qualifying for the Hungary Grand Prix at 200kph (125mph) after being struck on the head by a loose spring from the car of Brawn GP driver Barrichello. Massa suffered a fractured skull and spent several days in a medically-induced coma.

PHOTO: AFP/AFP/AFP/Getty Images

Photos: Brazilian announces F1 retirement

Massa valiantly returned to the track in 2010 alongside new teammate Fernando Alonso, and podium finishes in both Bahrain and Australia suggested he was ready to put the trauma of his accident behind him.

PHOTO: Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images/file

Photos: Brazilian announces F1 retirement

However, as the season developed, Alonso increasingly looked the more consistent performer -- culminating in Massa infamously being forced to move aside for his teammate at the 2010 German Grand Prix.

PHOTO: Andrew Hone/Getty Images Europe/Getty Images

Photos: Brazilian announces F1 retirement

Speculation Massa would lose his drive with Ferrari was quelled with impressive performances in the back-end of 2012, but the following season a number of accidents -- including two in Monaco -- slowed any building momentum for the Brazilian.

PHOTO: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

Photos: Brazilian announces F1 retirement

And Massa was eventually replaced by Kimi Raikkonen in 2014, prompting the Brazilian to make the switch to Williams. Despite a less competitive car, he has continued to perform well -- scoring a number of further podiums and finishing sixth in the standings.

PHOTO: Clive Rose/Getty Images Europe/Getty Images

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“It can be, it can be,” he says when asked if factory FE teams such as Audi, Nissan and in the future Porsche and Mercedes could be too strong for Venturi.

“But the team that is winning this championship [Techeetah, which took Jean-Eric Vergne to the season four title] is not a big team,” he adds. “That’s the only difference in Formula E from other championships – it’s more unpredictable. You never know – when everything is new things can happen in the right way, or may be less than what you expected – it’s true, but let’s see.

“My goal is to be competitive, the best as I can give. My goal never changes in whole my career.”

And this is an encouraging stance. Massa is entering FE because he wants to win, not to simply bank pay checks and make up the numbers.