Massa attacks the FIA and Magnussen

During the German Grand Prix, Felipe Massa was forced to retire after a collision with Kevin Magnussen at the first corner. While the Brazilian had criticized young drivers coming from lower categories, of which the Dane, who passed through the World Series by Renault, is a part, the McLaren driver emerged from this incident without a penalty. Moreover, the stewards’ report indicates that the driver with number 20 was never targeted by any potential sanction, which could instead have been directed at the Williams driver.

During the press conference preceding the race weekend, the Sao Paulo native addressed this incident and doesn’t change his stance: « Yes, I think he was a bit too aggressive. There were two cars, and he didn’t even have the right trajectory to take the corner at that speed ». Felipe Massa emphasizes that he couldn’t see where Kevin Magnussen was, which was the determining factor in the absence of a penalty against him: « I was very careful in the corner. I even slowed down to let Valterri [Editor’s note: Bottas] go ahead. From my car, it was impossible to know that someone was there. Impossible. I couldn’t see. But he was behind, so… »

To support his words, the former Ferrari driver recalls that this is not the first time Kevin Magnussen has been involved in this type of collision: « How many times has he caused problems on the first lap? ». The Paulista refers to certain contacts between the McLaren driver and Kimi Räikkönen, who have crossed swords more than once this year.

But without dwelling on that, Felipe Massa does not hesitate to directly criticize the FIA, which is responsible for the race stewards. As a reminder, since Kevin Magnussen was not involved in the investigation of this incident, only the Williams driver’s responsibility was questioned before he was cleared. However, avoiding a possible penalty does not satisfy the Brazilian, who believes that the stewards were wrong not to include the McLaren driver in this investigation: You can see that there is still much to improve, even within the FIA.

However, two other drivers who also had a collision with Felipe Massa do not agree with him. Kamui Kobayashi, who hit the 2008 vice-world champion at the start of the Australian Grand Prix following a brake issue, suggests that the fault leans towards driver number 19. « In my opinion, it would have been very difficult for Magnussen to avoid the collision given that he maintains his trajectory. It seems Felipe squeezed him a bit too much, if he had left a little more [space], he might not have had this accident. It looks like Felipe suddenly throws himself into the corner. » Moreover, the start is always a very particular moment in Formula 1, which can be decisive for the race, by gaining or losing many positions. « Magnussen could have avoided this by braking, but if you do that right after the start, you lose a lot of positions. The problem is that Felipe couldn’t see him in the mirrors. »

Sergio Perez, on the other hand, has a less strong opinion. At turn number 1 in Hockenheim, this kind of incident can happen. Kevin [Magnussen] did everything to avoid Felipe, but in the end, they touched, causing a bad accident for Felipe. Rather than assigning blame, the Mexican takes the voice of wisdom: It’s difficult to say who is to blame.