In the first contact between Ayrton Senna and Felipe Massa, Senna was leaving a boat with his girlfriend, Adriane Yamin. Felipe Massa, then 7 or 8 years old, tried to get his idol's autograph.
Excerpt from "My Girl" Book (Page 327):
...Right after that, just before Beco [Senna] left, he took me by the hands and we walked towards the club’s lobby looking for a private place on the way to say goodbye, when two boys of about seven to eight years old passed through our way abruptly to stop us and ask for an autograph.*
“Look, I am sorry, but I can’t right now!” Ayrton replied rapidly.
But one of them crossed our path again and said imperatively:
“No! You will give me an autograph!”
We looked at each other, shocked by that! Beco, realizing my perplexity with the situation, and also anxious to be able to say goodbye to me, got angry at the boy’s imprudence. He frowned and replied emphatically:
“No! I will not give you an autograph! Excuse me, please!”
The boy then backed off, indignant at not having gotten what he wanted. That was one of the few times I saw Beco refusing an autograph that way, but things had limits.
During the writing of this book, to my surprise, I discovered that the "boy" in question was none other than the F1 driver Felipe Massa, who tells in several interviews, having been traumatized by Senna's refusal. When he was a kid. As he tells himself in an interview for the Yotube podcast "Cara a Tapa"*:
- "I suffered a lot for that autograph he didn't give me! He was still at Lotus, when he was winning races at Lotus. Suddenly I'm at the Ilhabela Yacht Club, in Brazil, and a boat arrived. We were having dinner. with my parents and a couple, me and two other children. Suddenly, the waiter says: Senna is coming! He was parking on a boat. I must have been 7-8 years old maybe. And I was still starting to race in a kart . It was a dream! I couldn't believe it! Then I and the other two children took a piece of paper and a pen and went there to wait for him at the exit of the boat, there on the pier. Then he went down with a woman... I think I was unlucky to be honest, that day, you know? Maybe the guy didn't want to show up... and there was no one, it was empty! And then he got off the boat with the woman, passed by and didn't sign an autograph, said he wouldn't give. To save it for the next time..."
We were relieved to get out of that situation and said our goodbyes quickly. We did not have time for a tight hug and a long kiss like we would have liked. He just smacked me at the Club’s lobby, in front of everyone. We did not have much privacy or time to exchange words, because the audience, as well as the “professional appointments,” awaited him on the other side of the world. But he said in my ear with affection:
“Be good! I asked Antifuro to keep an eye on you and give me the complete report! I am going, but I will be back soon, Dridrica.”
I replied sadly:
“Take care, Beco San, I will be waiting for you.”
*Today we know that this boy was Felipe Massa, he tells this story himself.