Felipe Massa was forced to settle for tenth as the veteran Brazilian came off the worst in the Williams versus Force India battle during qualifying for the German Grand Prix on Saturday.
The Williams Martini Racing driver ended just 0.105 seconds behind the time set by Nico Hülkenberg of the Sahara Force India team in seventh, but this difference in time meant he ended up also behind his Finnish team-mate Valtteri Bottas and the second Force India of Sergio Perez.
Despite being tenth, Massa was happy with his final lap during qualifying at the Hockenheimring, but a slight mistake a turn twelve potentially cost him a little bit of time, critical when such a small margin separated seventh through to tenth.
“I’d say it was a very competitive qualifying today, especially with Force India,” said Massa. “We are constantly fighting for a tenth.
“I was very happy with my lap; but I just went into the turn too much at corner 12 and I lost time on my lap because of that. That’s the only thing that happened or else I’d have easily been one tenth quicker.
“So that’s a shame, but I will try even harder for the team tomorrow.”
