Felipe Massa revealed that he was forced to keep his first contract with Ferrari a secret and he was only allowed to tell his family.
Felipe Massa joined the Ferrari in the 2006 season after spending three seasons at Sauber. He also served as a test driver for Ferrari in 2003.
The Brazillian finished 139 races with Ferrari and earned 11 wins and 15 poles in his illustrious career. He spent eight seasons with the Italian giants after he replaced Rubens Barrichello in 2006.
The 41-year-old has now revealed that he had to keep his first contract with Ferrari a secret. He said that he was not allowed to tell anyone except his family and that was pretty hard.
Massa had won the Italian and European Formula Renault 2.0 championship in 2000. It was the same season in which Ferrari made their move toward him. Massa said that after his wins in the F2 championships, many had tried to get him under contract.
“A meeting was organised with Ferrari in Maranello. I didn’t know that at the time but they had been monitoring everything I had done: testing, telemetry, races, everything.”
“Then they said, ‘Okay, we’re going to sign a contract with you as a young driver for Ferrari’ – which had never been done before – but you can’t tell anyone. It has to be a secret.”
“So I signed an eight-year contract with Ferrari and wasn’t allowed to tell anyone! Just my family. That was incredibly difficult. ”
“Then I went to drive for Sauber, with Ferrari engines. Then I got the call that Ferrari had decided to choose me. So in 2006, I was racing for Ferrari. That was a dream come true.”
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In his rookie season with Sauber in 2002, Massa finished 13th in the championship standings. But when he came to Ferrari partnering with Michael Schumacher in 2006, he finished P3 behind Schumacher and the title winner Fernando Alonso.
In 2008, he came close to winning the championship title, however, he was pipped by Lewis Hamilton by one point.
In the following seasons, Massa had many rivalries with Hamilton but the bitter one came in the 2011 season. The Brazillian and Hamilton crashed on six occasions.
In the 2011 Singapore GP, Massa touched the front wing of Hamilton’s car and it broke. In the post-race interview, Massa tapped Hamilton’s shoulder and sarcastically said “Good job bro!” to which Hamilton replied, “Don’t touch me, man!.”
