Massa: Alonso ‘good friends with the stewards’
Felipe Massa has cheekily suggested that Fernando Alonso must have 'good friends in the stewards' to have got away without punishment for their late-race clash in Austin.
Alonso and Massa banged wheels as they disputed positions in the closing stages of the United States Grand Prix - with the Williams driver picking up a puncture.
Although the incident was investigated by the stewards, in the end it was decided that no action needed to be taken.
Massa said that he had made clear his feelings with Alonso – and remains unhappy about what happened.
“I talked [with Alonso] already,” Massa told Motorsport.com during a media appearance for the Race of Champions.
“If you look on the camera from the top, his overtaking looks amazing. But he was [coming from] far away, he just didn’t brake, I was doing the corner. If I am not there he just passes straight on.
“Even hitting me, he went off the track anyway. I didn’t even try to close the line, he was so far behind, he was not close. Definitely, I think he has very good friends in the stewards, to be honest.
“The other overtake he did with Sainz, he just braked late and went off the track also. Two in the last three laps of the race. I don’t see the point in not giving a penalty to him."
On a weekend when the FIA banned drivers from moving under braking to defend positions, Massa said it was too much to allow drivers to take lunges down the inside like Alonso.
“For sure, that’s what all the drivers ask in the meetings," he said. "We need to know the rules.
"Most of the drivers understand that moving under braking is something you cannot do. Then you see a driver doing it, and nothing happens, so everyone is asking. If we can move, everybody will move. All the drivers gave their opinion, which was quite similar to be honest, and they change. I hope now they follow.
“It’s two different things; Fernando didn’t move under braking, he just tried to overtake in a different way. He was trying everything he could on the last laps, I’m not blaming him for this, but for sure he just dived into me and hit my car – I’m not saying he can’t try but he was too far away to try.
"If I’m not there, he couldn’t do the corner. The manoeuvre was too much.”
Additional reporting by Charles Bradley
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