Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer was confirmed as Massa's substitute for the European and Belgian Grands Prix. After two races in which Badoer failed to score a single point, on 3 September 2009 Ferrari announced that Massa's place for the rest of the season would instead be taken by Giancarlo Fisichella who had signed a deal to be a Ferrari test driver for 2010 and had driven for Force India throughout the 2009 season. As part of his return to Formula One Massa undertook a series of neurological examinations, co-ordinated by the FIA's medical delegate, in Paris on 10 October 2009. The successful completion of these tests led to the announcement by Ferrari that Massa would, from 12 October 2009 be driving a 2007 Formula One car in order to continue re-acclimatising to racing. He waved the chequered flag at the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix. Massa started the season with a second-place qualifying place, and a second-place finish in Bahrain behind teammate Fernando Alonso, despite having to save fuel in the last 22 laps. At the , Massa was appointed a director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association. Massa qualified fifth for the race, which was marked by changeable weather conditions and ten non-finishers. He finished third, largely managing to steer clear of the chaos. After the race, Massa commented cheerfully that it had been an unusually good start to the season for him. Third was his best ever finish at Melbourne. After a storming drive to 7th from 21st on the grid in Malaysia, he took the lead in the world championship. However, a disappointing ninth in China meant that he dropped back to sixth in the standings. Massa qualified 9th in Spain, and finished the race 6th despite contact with Karun Chandhok which damaged his front wing. In Monaco, Massa was very quick during practice and qualified fourth. He got off to a great start and got alongside Robert Kubica, but had to yield the racing line at the first corner and finished the race in fourth, which promoted him to fifth in the championship with 61 points. The next race, the  – at which Massa has historically excelled – ended for him in a disappointing seventh, although he at least managed to out-qualify teammate Alonso and beat him in the race. Massa described the race as "boring"; he spent it battling with the Renaults of Kubica and Vitaly Petrov for the minor points positions.