Felipe Massa will celebrate his 100th race for Ferrari at this weekends Brazilian Grand Prix – his home race – and to celebrate the occasion, he will wear a special helmet featuring 100 prancing horses.
Ferrari president, Luca di Montezemolo, wrote a letter to Massa, of which has been reproduced below:
Dear Felipe,
This is an important Grand Prix for you, not just because you will be racing at home, in front of your fans. It will also be your one hundredth race with us, which is an amazing journey that only very few drivers can claim to have done before you. It is also coincides with the end of your first ten years in Formula 1, all of which have been powered by an engine built here in Maranello. I am pleased that you chose to record this anniversary with a special helmet design, featuring one hundred prancing horses.
These past ten years have been very intensive. With us, you staked your claim as a driver, winning eleven Grand Prix, and coming within a whisker of taking an incredible World Championship crown, as well as making a significant contribution to the Scuderia winning two Constructors’ World Championship titles. With us, you have grown as a driver and as a man and you are part of our history.
Where you are now in Interlagos, you have experienced some great moments, but also some very bitter ones. Today, you are on the eve of the final Grand Prix of what has been a particularly difficult season: let’s hope you can end it with a very nice result!
From Monday, all our thoughts will be focussed solely on next year’s championship, because we have had enough of this one. It will be a crucial year, your seventh as a racing driver for the Scuderia, because the objective is clear for all to see and is so obvious, it’s not even worth repeating here. I am sure that, first and foremost, you are keen to answer your critics and prove them wrong and it falls to us to provide you with the means to do that, by giving you a winning car.
I send you a warm embrace,
Luca Montezemolo
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