Massa recalls his ‘secret’ contract with Ferrari

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 having been at Sauber and went on to be one of the longest serving and most successful drivers in the team’s history.

He completed 139 races, only Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen raced more for Ferrari, and earned 11 wins and 15 poles.

But the 41-year-old has now revealed his first ever contract with the team was kept a secret and he was only allowed to tell members of his family.

In 2000, Massa won the Italian and European Formula 2 championship in the same season at which point Ferrari made their move.

© Provided by PlanetF1 Felipe Massa Rob Smedley “I won the Italian and European Formula Renault 2.0 championship in the same season,” Massa said in a clip from the film Motorsport Heroes. “After that, many tried to get me under contract.

Video: McLaren struggle through Canadian GP weekend (PlanetF1)

A happy homecoming for Lance Stroll

Magic mixed with misery for Alonso in Canada

Torquing Point: Canadian GP review and conclusions

Are Mercedes truly on road to recovery?

Lewis Hamilton's downturn greatly exaggerated

Red Bull's one good, one bad weekend

Did Carlos Sainz miss his best chance to win?

Lando Norris has had mentality change

“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