Marco Simoncelli died last year at the age of 24 in October at the Malaysian round of MotoGP. Ferrari paid tribute to the Italian motorcycle racer at their arrival at Sepang circuit for this week’s Malaysian Grand Prix.
Marco Simoncelli was in Grand Prix Motor Racing for 10 years and won the 250cc World Championship in 2008. He was revered in his homeland, with 20,000 people attending his funeral in his hometown of Coriano, near Rimini. The tragedy struck during Malaysian Grand Prix last year, when the Italian racer crashed and was then hit by two following motorcycles.
Post this weekend’s F1 event, Ferrari paid tribute to the racer, with drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa and other team members visiting the turn 11, accident site. The team held up a pit board that read ‘Sic sempre con noi’, which means ‘Simoncelli Forever with us’ in Italian. Ferrari’s prancing horse and Simoncelli’s racing number 58 was also featured on the board.
Alonso, clearly choked as he spoke, said: “After the accident of Marco here last year, racing here will now always be sad.
“It will be tough and difficult knowing one of our colleagues died here. But we did one picture this afternoon, Felipe and me and some members of the team, in turn 11 where the accident happened. That was in memory of him. All the Ferrari family and the Italian people will always remember him, and that’s the most important thing.”