Williams: Massa denounces a frustrating day
Felipe Massa experienced an eventful race in Bahrain, juggling engine failures and Pastor Maldonado's mistake. Despite his tenth place finish, the Brazilian drops one rank in the drivers' standings. Meanwhile, Valtteri Bottas managed to secure fourth place despite pressure from Sebastian Vettel.
The series continues for Felipe Massa, but it was close to fading. The Williams team driver finished in the points again in Bahrain, marking the sixth consecutive race.
But the Brazilian had to battle to secure the tenth place, which meant an additional point in the championship. He first had to start from the pit lane after his FW37 refused to launch for the formation lap, a fact attributed to a sensor issue according to Rod Smedley, the performance director at Williams. “It was a frustrating day having to start from the pit lane,” lamented Massa, who had qualified sixth on the grid. “The car struggled to start and when I did get going, I had a lot of places to catch up.”
Then, Pastor Maldonado caused trouble. The Lotus driver missed his braking at turn 4 and hit the rear of Massa’s car, causing damage to his diffuser. From then on: “I really struggled with the rear and the car was difficult to drive,” the Brazilian affirms. “It was a difficult day, but a point is always better than nothing.” However, this does not allow him to keep the fourth place in the Championship (31 points) in favor of Kimi Räikkönen (42).
This went better for his teammate Valtteri Bottas. The Finn took fourth place, his best result since the start of the season. Although the podium was out of reach – he finished 37 seconds behind Nico Rosberg, he nicely fended off Sebastian Vettel in the final laps, with the German having to settle for fifth place: « It was a solitary race but the last twenty laps were difficult. Sebastian was faster than me and was coming back strong, but the battle was really nice. » the Finn shared after the race.
