Second zero of the season for Williams, this time at Marina Bay

For his last 100% night race in Formula 1, Felipe Massa certainly did not fully enjoy it, far from it.

The Brazilian seemed to lack rhythm on his machine, which was hardly designed for such a winding track. After avoiding running over the debris from the start, the ex-Ferrari driver was in ninth position at the end of the first lap. He even climbed up to fifth place, albeit very briefly; before making his first pit stop on the 16th lap.

Overtaken by Vettel’s Ferrari in the standings while on a recovery drive, the native of Sao Paulo devised an unsuccessful three-stop strategy, without once fitting soft tires. His second part of the race unfolded mid-pack, notably involving a significant contact with the wall exiting the 22nd corner, which resulted in the loss of his “monkey seat” aerodynamic component attached to the rear wing of his FW38.

Starting from 13th place after his last pit stop, he was only able to overtake Nasr’s Sauber, unable to pass Gutierrez’s Haas, whom he had already passed during his second stint.

« It was really a tough race. » he admitted at the finish. « I am not happy with what happened. My race started well at the beginning, but with the strategy, I found myself stuck in traffic, from there, things started to change. It happens like that. We now have to focus on the next race to get as many points as possible with both cars. »

Even more catastrophic scenario for Valtteri Bottas. The Finn was one of the many collateral victims of the crash between Verstappen, Hülkenberg, and Sainz. It was actually Button’s McLaren that hit him, causing a puncture on his car, forcing him to pit as early as the second lap.

But the car’s balance was greatly affected. He finally retired on the 35th lap due to mechanical problems. Here are a few words from the unfortunate driver, who has set foot on the ground for the first time before the finish in 2016. His last retirement was at the United States Grand Prix at the end of October 2015, at the time due to a suspension issue.

« It was truly a bad day: everything went wrong even before the first turn. A driver hit the back of my car, which caused a puncture and a pit stop. I quickly realized that I had a lot of damage; my pace was really bad. The car was sliding a lot, and I had no speed. We tried everything, but then there was a mechanical problem, so I retired from the race ».

Rob Smedley, the performance director, also commented on the day’s problems for Sir Frank Williams’ team:

« We suspected a mechanical problem with Valtteri’s car after his first stop, so the best thing to do was retire. For Felipe, we chose a three-stop strategy to give him a better tire opportunity at the end, but the pit stops and traffic did not put him in a good position. Coming out behind Gutiérrez in the pits cost him because we would have caught up with Pérez at the end, with better tires. On a circuit like this, the damage was limited in terms of the championship. Rival teams didn’t score many points, so we are ultimately quite lucky with these results. »

Indeed, by remaining stuck at 111 points, the Grove team falls behind Force India in the constructors’ standings, by just one point. And fortunately for them, despite this overall mishap—the second of the season after Silverstone—both Bottas and Massa retain their positions in the drivers’ standings (namely seventh and ninth place, respectively).

But there is no doubt that the battle will continue to rage in the next round in two weeks in Malaysia, on a circuit that should much better suit the characteristics of the FW38.