Felipe Massa felt his lap during Q2 of Qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix was ‘almost perfect’ but the Williams Martini Racing was unable to advance to the top ten shoot-out by just over two-tenths of a second.
However, the veteran Brazilian feels it may turn out to be an advantage to qualify eleventh, with starting on the cleaner side of the circuit and with a free choice of starting tyre, and is hoping for a twelfth points finish of the season.
“I did the best lap I could in the car,” said Massa. “It was almost a perfect lap. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to get to Q3.
“I was happy with my lap. Maybe eleventh is better than tenth with the clean side of the track and new tyres.
“Let’s concentrate on the race tomorrow and see what we can get. We are in the fight and that’s the most important thing.”
Team-mate Lance Stroll was not as satisfied with his Q2 run, and will start just behind Massa in twelfth, with his only representative lap in the second segment well done on what he needed to do to advance.
“It wasn’t a perfect job,” said Stroll. “Q1 was okay, and then in Q2 the first run was good at the start of the lap but then there were the yellows.
“Then, on the next run I just couldn’t get the tyres ready and I made many mistakes and didn’t really set a lap time. I got in a lap at the end, but I think it would have been very difficult to get into Q3.
“We are starting twelfth, it is a long race tomorrow, we are in the middle and I think we can score points. We just have to sort out a few things and have a good race. It will be tough for everyone with the altitude.”
