Felipe Massa will start his final Formula 1 Grand Prix from tenth on the grid despite it being a far from straightforward qualifying session at the Yas Marina Circuit on Saturday.
The Williams Martini Racing driver will start his 250th Grand Prix from the fifth row of the grid ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas, and the Brazilian was happy with the lap that took him through into the top ten shootout, although his lap in Q3 was not as strong as he would have liked it to have been.
Massa feels the team are around where they expected to be in qualifying in Abu Dhabi, but is looking forward to finding out where they are during the race on Sunday as he turns his final laps as a Formula 1 driver.
“It definitely was not a very easy qualifying today, but I was happy with the result,” said Massa. “To be honest, I wasn’t happy with the tyres but I just tried my hardest to set a good lap.
“I had a very good time in Q2, which was important. I definitely expected a bit more from my lap in Q3, but maybe I didn’t have as much grip in the tyres as Q2. We’re not far from where we expected to be and we will see what we can do compared to the other cars.”
