Sunday: Massa and Bottas pay for tire degradation at Williams
Long in the fight for the podium, the Williams drivers could not do better than 7th and 8th, due to the safety car for Felipe Massa, and especially for both men, the excessive tire degradation.
Felipe Massa (No. 19) – 7th
Author of an excellent start that saw him emerge in 3rd position from the first corner, the Brazilian suffered too much tire degradation on his Williams: « The start was fantastic. I did everything right and had good grip. We were in a good position and were fighting, but unfortunately, the tire degradation was worse than expected. »
The entry of the safety car, just after the last pit stop, didn’t help: « The safety car didn’t help strategically because I think we should have been with the Force Indias rather than behind the Red Bulls, so that’s a shame. Otherwise, it was a good race, with some nice battles and finishing with both cars in the points is really positive. »
Valtteri Bottas (No. 77) – 8th
On the other hand, the Finnish driver didn’t have a great takeoff: « After a bad start, our race strategy was compromised. I had too much wheelspin and that made me lose a few positions, which is frustrating. »
Like Massa, he notes that the tire degradation was worse than expected but remains positive: “We had problems with the tires that were worse than we expected, but to stay positive, we scored some good points with both cars. We always want more, so we will continue to work hard.”
