Massa blasts Verstappen for 'dangerous' crash
Felipe Massa believes Max Verstappen's spectacular exit from the Monaco Grand Prix is a sign that 'experience counts in Formula 1', branding the Dutchman's collision with Romain Grosjean as dangerous.
Verstappen enjoyed an eventful first weekend in Monaco, grabbing headlines with his practice pace and proceeding to impress during the race too, despite a slow pit-stop dropping him outside the top ten.
Fitting super-soft tyres in the final quarter of the race, Verstappen set about making headway towards the points, but his attack on Grosjean for tenth place would see him misjudge his braking, hit the back of the Lotus and spear into the barriers at Ste Devote.
A spectacular exit, though Verstappen - who laid blame at Grosjean for braking early - was unhurt, stewards took a dim view of the accident and slapped him with a five-place grid penalty for the next race in Canada.
It was a collision that also drew the ire of Massa, who - having spoken of his concern at Verstappen's inexperience before the season - said the accident
"I would say what for me was pretty dangerous was the accident with Verstappen," the Williams driver said. "He's supposed to get a penalty for what he did. So he just braked behind, much later and what happened was very dangerous.
"So it shows that maybe experience counts in Formula One, and I think to teach about this type of accident they need to control better because it was very dangerous. So he was lucky that he was not hurt, because he could have been very hurt by what happened."
"To be honest he was not even in a position to overtake. He was not even near to go alongside, he was behind. So to be honest it was too much what happened."
Indeed, though he is pleased no-one was hurt, Massa says the matter is likely to be brought up as a reason for concern.
"Well with this type of mistakes, yes [it will be brought up]. It was very dangerous for him. He's 17, so if he's hurt everybody would talk about it. 'Why did they give a licence to a guy who is 17 and he's doing that?' But he's not hurt, everybody's happy, so I think they need to look at things in a better way."
