• Spanish Grand Prix
Comments: 11

Massa fumes at drive-through penalty

ESPNF1 Staff
May 14, 2012 « Whitmarsh explains McLaren's qualifying blunder | Two more Williams team members leave hospital »
Felipe Massa: "For me there was no reason to give me the drive-through" © Sutton Images
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Felipe Massa was at a loss to explain why he was given a drive-through penalty during the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday, which he says ruined his chances of scoring points.

Massa was penalised by the stewards of the meeting for not slowing sufficiently while racing under yellow flags. But the Ferrari driver could not fathom why he should have been singled out among the cars he was racing with.

"I saw the yellow flags definitely, but I was following the cars in front and I didn't try to overtake anybody and I didn't do anything wrong," Massa said. "For me there was no reason to give me the drive-through and if you give it to me you should give it to all the cars in front of me, which did exactly the same thing. I was not close enough to the car in front to try to overtake, I did not try to overtake or go off line or anything. I don't understand."

Massa finished the race 15th but said without the penalty he could have scored some decent points.

"I was in the group with the Red Bulls and the McLarens and I could match their pace," Massa added. "I had a good opening lap when I managed to make up a lot of places. I am happy that Fernando was able to fight for the win all the way to the end, as it shows our car's potential has definitely improved: we still don't have the quickest car but it seems we are going down the right road."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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