Massa finds the Mercedes formation laps too slow
Felipe Massa was particularly upset with the Mercedes drivers at the end of the British Grand Prix due to their tendency to perform particularly slow formation laps, which causes problems for their rivals.
Felipe Massa would like the FIA to penalize Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg if they continue to perform formation laps too slowly. In F1, the formation lap is used to ensure that all systems are working well on the car and to properly warm up the tires.
There is no rule regarding the speed of the lap, but Massa was particularly dissatisfied with Nico Rosberg’s slowness in Great Britain, which resulted in his clutch overheating and penalizing him afterwards.
« They [Mercedes] are going slowly for a reason, sometimes it’s not good for the other teams. I’m sure if you look at our formation lap in the last race where we were in front [in Austria], it was much faster than in normal races [where the Mercedes were on pole], » the Brazilian said, as quoted by The F1 Times.
The Williams driver revealed that the issue had been discussed with Charlie Whiting, FIA race director, during driver briefings, but Massa believes that for now it hasn’t led to anything concrete: « The FIA says we cannot go slowly, but they don’t penalize anyone. We keep complaining, there have been lots [of discussions] during the driver briefing. Charlie said he would study it but he hasn’t given any penalties. »
