Felipe Massa was on course to make it through to the top ten shoot-out for the United States Grand Prix but late flying laps from other drivers saw him fall short by just 0.042 seconds on Saturday.
The Williams Martini Racing driver was disappointed to miss out on advancing into Q3, especially as he felt that he had expected to improve his time more than he did, with his 1:35.155s just under half a second better than he managed in Q1.
Massa will move up to tenth on the grid for Sunday’s race once Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen takes his fifteen-place penalty for an unscheduled engine change, and the veteran Brazilian is eyeing a points finish in what could be his last United States Grand Prix as his future with the team remains unclear following recent tests for Robert Kubica and Paul di Resta.
“My lap was clean,” said Massa. “There was little difference between three teams today but, unfortunately, we were the car behind. We need to analyse everything.
“My lap was clear, no mistakes, but, unfortunately, we couldn’t get to Q3. I was happy and confident with the car the whole weekend, the only thing I expected was to improve more.”
