• Abu Dhabi GP - Race

Nothing left in tyres for victory - Massa

ESPN Staff
November 23, 2014 « Hamilton's title win will ease Mercedes tension - Lauda | Mercedes let Rosberg down - Wolff »
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Felipe Massa says his tyres had nothing left in the final four laps as he missed out on challenging for a first victory since 2008 in Abu Dhabi.

Massa found himself leading the race in the final stages after Nico Rosberg hit trouble and Lewis Hamilton tried to nurse his Mercedes home, with a 14-second lead before his final pit stop on lap 44. That brought him out behind Hamilton but, crucially, on the faster super soft tyre and Massa was soon lapping a second-a-lap quicker than the Briton.

Massa's last win came at the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix when he lost the title to Hamilton and for a while it looked like he might win again on a day the Briton tasted world championship success again. But 11 laps on the super soft tyre eventually proved to be too much to mount a genuine challenge and three seconds was as close as he would get to the Mercedes.

When asked if he thought he could win in the final stages, Massa said: "Yes, when there was about 10 laps to go and I was a little bit more than a second a lap quicker. I said 'if these tyres stay like this, I can win the race', but the tyres were degrading a lot and in the last four laps I wasn't catching him as quick as I had been before and the gap wasn't as good.

"It was an incredible race for us. I didn't expect to have that pace; we were slightly slower than Mercedes but not so much on the same tyres. I was able to keep the tyres for a long time, not until the end, but long into the race. I was talking to the team and we tried an option, why not? We had a big gap to Valtteri [Bottas] so we thought let's try it. But Lewis was a little bit too far. I wanted so much to have that victory but we were close and hopefully that's just the beginning for next year."

On the podium Massa also took the chance to congratulate his old rival Hamilton on his title success.

"Well done and congratulations to Lewis, he deserves it. He and his team did a fantastic job."

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