Giaffone travelled to the United States to compete in the Indy Lights series in 1999, where he was coached by Formula One legend and fellow Brazilian Nelson Piquet. The mentorship under Piquet provided Giaffone with strong grounding ahead of his step up to the top level of American open-wheel racing.
Giaffone began competing in the Indy Racing League in 2001. His best season came in 2002, when he achieved a fourth-place finish in the overall standings — his career-best championship result — and claimed a single race victory at Kentucky Speedway. In 2003 he was selected as one of the IRL's representatives in the IROC series, though injury limited him to only two races and a tenth-place finish in the series standings.
In 2005, Giaffone secured a last-minute deal with A.J. Foyt to qualify a third car for the Indianapolis 500. With minutes to spare before the field was finalised, he bumped Arie Luyendyk Jr. from the 33rd and final starting position. Starting at the back of the grid, he survived attrition throughout the race and finished fifteenth. When A.J. Foyt's grandson A.J. Foyt IV departed the IRL for NASCAR ahead of the 2006 season, Foyt chose Giaffone as his full-time replacement. Giaffone was released after eight races, with Foyt citing communication problems as the reason.
Giaffone returned to Brazil in 2007 to compete in the Formula Truck series, which became the dominant chapter of his motorsport career. He won the Formula Truck championship four times, in 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2016, and was runner-up in 2010, 2012, and 2014.
In 2017 he switched to the Copa Truck series, where he claimed four further championships in 2017, 2023, 2024, and 2025, and finished runner-up in 2018 and 2022. Across the two truck series, Giaffone accumulated eight titles in total, establishing himself as one of the most successful truck racing competitors in the history of Brazilian motorsport.
From 2008 to 2018, Giaffone worked as a part-time commentator on IndyCar Series broadcasts on Rede Bandeirantes. In 2019 he joined Rede Globo to fill the same role on Formula One broadcasts. In 2021 he returned to Band when the network acquired the Brazilian rights to Formula One coverage. In 2026, he switched back to Globo to cover Formula One on the pay television channel SporTV.
The Giaffone family has produced multiple generations of motorsport competitors across several decades. His father Jose "Zeca" Giaffone is the 1987 Stock Car Brasil champion and a five-time winner of the Mil Milhas Brasil, taking the race in 1981, 1984, 1986, 1988, and 1989. Zeca is also the founder of JL Racing, described as the largest racing engine supplier in Brazil and a Stock Car Brasil chassis supplier, and the owner of the Granja Viana international kart circuit in Cotia, near Sao Paulo.
Felipe's son Nicolas Giaffone became the 2023 USF Juniors champion. His brother Jose "Zequinha" Giaffone competed in some 1996 Indy Lights races. His uncle Affonso Giaffone Junior won the first-ever race of Stock Car Brasil in 1979 and was the 1981 champion, and also won the Mil Milhas Brasil twice, in 1981 and 1986; Affonso's four sons all competed in Brazilian national kart championships. His cousin Affonso Giaffone competed in the 1996-97 Indy Racing League season. Another cousin, Silvana Giaffone, was married to Formula One driver Rubens Barrichello — making Barrichello a cousin-in-law of Felipe.
Giaffone bridges two distinct eras of Brazilian motorsport. As an open-wheel competitor he brought consistent Brazilian representation to American racing during the IRL's growth years of the early 2000s. In truck racing he became one of the most decorated champions either series has produced. As a broadcaster across nearly two decades he has introduced Formula One and IndyCar racing to Brazilian television audiences through multiple competing platforms.