- Austrian GP - Race
Strategy needs improvement - Massa
Felipe Massa says Williams did not do the "perfect strategy" in Austria as he finished fourth in a race he started from pole position.
At the end of the first stint Mercedes pitted both its drivers before Williams after closing in on the leading pair, before Massa emerged between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton from his own stop. Hamilton immediately got by at Turn 2, before Williams team-mate Valtteri Bottas emerged from his stop ahead of Massa the following lap.
Massa believes he was unlucky in how the first pit stop window played out and thinks it ultimately cost him the final podium spot.
"Feet on the ground, I think third was maybe our best position today," Massa said. "There was not [plans to pit before Mercedes]. I think it was also that we didn't do the perfect strategy. Anyway, that is part of the improvement."
"I think I was not lucky when I came back on the track as I was behind one Mercedes and the other was close to me with hot tyres so passed me easily. I lost a lot of time with cars going slowly before pitting. It was a little bit of a shame."
Massa believes the difference between he and Valtteri Bottas was something outside of his own control.
"He was much quicker than me, yes, but he did not have a mistake, so it was just a slow pit stop, there was no mistake from my side. He just had the perfect pit stop. On the out lap I hit traffic too."
In the closing stages Massa just had to bring the car home for fourth but he says he was concerned he would not make it to the finish.
"I had a problem at the end of the race. The car was starting to bother me, I had a problem with the suspension, the rear went out completely. That bothered me massively. In the last ten laps, the rear left started vibrating massively, so I was really scared that I was not going to finish the race."
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