Massa slams Mercedes over slow formation laps
Felipe Massa has criticised Mercedes' habit of slow formation laps after claiming his poor start to the British Grand Prix was caused by clutch issues that developed as a result of having to stop twice on his way to the grid, the Williams driver suggesting penalties should be considered by the FIA to prevent it from occurring again.
Starting further down the grid order than of late after being caught out by inclement weather conditions in qualifying, Massa went on to suffer an equally dismal race day when he failed to get away properly at the start before retiring when he collided with the spinning Kimi Raikkonen on the first lap.
With team-mate Valtteri Bottas turning a similarly lowly grid slot into a run to second position, Massa was frustrated to miss out on the chance to challenge for his own podium.
However, he would go on to point some of the blame at Mercedes and Nico Rosberg for conducting such a slow formation lap that he had to stop twice, which in turn overheated the clutch and left him unable to get away properly.
"All of these cars go very slow on the formation lap," he said. "We stopped on the track and my clutch went a very high temperature so it didn't work. I started to move the clutch, but the car went into anti-stall so I dropped to last.
"It is a shame because the start is never normally a problem and it would have been a good start and a good race because the car was flying. We would have finished on the podium and we would be third in the championship, so it is a shame what happened."
"We have complained [about the slow formation laps] in many races this year. At the last race, I think if you check, it was much quicker than the normal races because I was in front.
"Mercedes go slow for a reason but it is sometimes bad for other teams. My car was smoking at the rear on the grid and it is down to the slow formation lap."
Indeed, Massa says the issue has been brought up repeatedly during drivers' briefings, but while the FIA have promised to look into it, no action has been taken.
With this in mind, Massa has urged the FIA to make an example with a penalty to stop it from occurring in the future.
"We always complain," he continued. "I think the last two or three races saw a bit less complaining, but there has been a lot of complaining in the drivers' briefing.
"The FIA say we can't go so slow but they didn't do anything or penalise anyone. I think if they penalise one car for that by giving them a five grid penalty for the next race, everything will change. I stopped two times, it was so slow. You cannot go slow just because you want to. Mercedes have done it for several races, so they are doing it for a reason."
