Felipe Massa has revealed he was forced to keep the first contract he signed with Ferrari a secret and was only allowed to tell his family.
The Brazilian joined Ferrari for the 2006 season from Sauber and became one of the most driven F1 drivers in Scuderia history.
He has indeed completed 139 races, only Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen have run more for Ferrari. He won 11 victories and 15 poles with the Reds.
In 2000, Massa won the Italian and European Formula 2 championships in the same season, at which time Ferrari made their choice.
“In 2000 I won the Italian and European Formula Renault 2.0 championships in the same season,” says Massa in the film Motorsport Heroes. “After that, many tried to put me under contract.”
“A meeting was arranged with Ferrari at Maranello. I didn’t know it at the time, but they were watching everything I had done: testing, telemetry, races, everything. Then they said to me: ‘we are going to sign a contract with you as a young driver for Ferrari’ – which has never been done before – ‘but you can’t tell anyone. It must be a secret’.”
“So I signed an eight-year contract with Ferrari and I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone! Just my family. It was incredibly difficult. Then I went to drive for Sauber, with engines Ferrari, then I got the call from Ferrari. In 2006 I was racing for Ferrari, it was a dream come true.”