Felipe Massa made an early exit to the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday, after a water system issue caused his power unit to overheat on lap 36, when the Brazilian had been running in a strong seventh place, forcing him to retire from the race.
It was a shame for Massa, as the FW38 looked to be performing strongly in Montreal, as team-mate Valtteri Bottas’ third place finish showed. The Brazilian was extremely disappointed to miss out on a good point’s haul and a possible podium, knowing that the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is a track that favours the characteristics of the FW38.
“Of course I’m very disappointed not to finish the race because of a mechanical issue that we had.
“It’s a race where we’re supposed to score good points with both cars, but unfortunately we didn’t with mine. So we need to concentrate on the next race now.”
Until this race Massa had been the only driver on the grid to have scored points in every race, a perhaps surprising statistic, but one that is now no more.
The track and conditions in Montreal really suited the FW38, which meant the Williams Martini Racing team were able to beat the Red Bull Racing squad on track, not just on strategy, a positive point for the Oxfordshire based squad to take away.
Having increased the gap in the constructors championship to the Sahara Force India team behind them, Williams will now look to continue their momentum from Canada, into the next race in Baku.
