It was a disappointing 2017 Mexican Grand Prix for Williams Martini Racing driver Felipe Massa, after a puncture sustained at the start seriously compromised his race.
The Brazilian realised he had a slow puncture on lap three, prompting him to pit immediately for the soft tyre, which brought him back out in sixteenth place, having been sat in eighth. It was far from ideal for Massa, who felt the FW40 had great pace, but he was unable to capitalise on the performance having been relegated so far down the order in the early stages.
“I’m really disappointed. It was a shame to stop so soon with the puncture at the beginning of the race.
“The car was good, competitive and I’m sure it would have been a completely different situation if we didn’t have the puncture. That’s the way it is sometimes.”
One plus point from the weekend, was that Williams managed to score more points than their two closest rivals, as team-mate Lance Stroll was able to take advantage of the cars strong performance, crossing the line in sixth place.
The result keeps the Grove based squad ahead of both the Renault Sport Formula 1 Team and Scuderia Toro Rosso, strengthening their fifth position in the constructor’s standings by twenty-three points, with just two races left to go.
For that good fortune, Massa was pleased with the overall weekend, but the Brazilian is hoping he will have no further moments of bad luck in the remaining races of 2017.
“I’m happy for the team as we scored more points than Renault with two races to go but it was really a shame for me to have another unlucky moment.”
