Tensions rise between Massa and Hamilton

After already having a run-in with Lewis Hamilton yesterday during qualifications, Felipe Massa was visibly upset with the British driver following the race, which was marked by the battle between the two after the first round of pit stops. At the DRS zone braking, the British driver tore off part of his front wing on the Brazilian’s right rear wheel. Confronted with a puncture, Massa was forced to pit, while the McLaren driver waited a few laps before doing the same to change his wing, only to receive a drive-through penalty a few laps later.

Immediately after the race, in the press area, while being interviewed by RTL, Lewis Hamilton was accosted by a visibly furious Felipe Massa who gave him two taps on the arm before saying, thumbs up: “Good job Lewis!” The McLaren driver then paused, retorting to the Brazilian not to touch him, but Massa had already gone to express all his resentment in front of the press: “I told you yesterday that he doesn’t use his brain… already in qualifying, so you can imagine in the race. In qualifying, he thought he was Superman on the out lap, you know? And today, he’s trying to do the same thing in the race. He paid for it, he got a penalty, but that’s the problem: he doesn’t understand, even when he pays for an issue,” Massa seems to despair.

When asked if he had tried to explain himself to Lewis Hamilton, Massa retorts: « I tried, but he doesn’t listen to me… he might not even listen to his father, so you can imagine how it is with me! »

« The problem is that I was in his way so I had a flat tire and I paid a heavy price for it » complains Felipe Massa, who therefore believes that the drive-through penalty given to the British driver was fully deserved: « It’s important that the FIA acts on this and penalizes him every time he gets into a car because he doesn’t think. »

Unfortunately, this is not the first time the two men have clashed on the track this season, and everyone remembers the Monaco Grand Prix accident. The Brazilian driver even alluded to it by stating that “something happened with a guy who did that to me… How many times? So many times!”

On their side, the respective Team Principals of the two drivers put things into perspective: “What can I say? I think Lewis may have been a bit too aggressive in that corner, but that’s part of racing. He received a penalty and he was still ahead of us,” explains Stefano Domenicali. “It ruined Felipe’s race… that’s part of the competition.”

Asked by the BBC, Martin Whitmarsh is equally philosophical: « They have been friends, they have been enemies. You know how it is between drivers. I don’t think it affects Lewis. If there’s a car in front, he wants to overtake it, no matter who is driving it. They are enemies in the moment and I don’t think it’s personal. »