Felipe Massa says Jenson Button responsible for drive-thru penalty – Formula 1
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa has said that the incident involving him and McLaren’s Jensen Button was a surprising one. Massa commented that Button ignored the rules after which he was penalised to drive-thru the pit lanes. Massa added that Button should have
given back the position and the issue would have been solved there and then.
Button was behind Massa in the early stages of the race. The British driver tried to overtake the Brazilian driver but was unable to do that and finally went off track to overtake. The race stewards found out that Button was wrongfully ahead of Massa and
penalised him with a drive-thru penalty.
Button was surprised by the incident and said that clearly Massa had some problems with the car and was slower than him. Button also said that after the overtaking was completed, the Ferrari team cunningly pitted Massa. Button added that had Massa been on
the track after that incident, he would have given the position back to the Brazilian.
Massa replied on Button's comments brutally and said, “I expected him to give back the position after he got by. The rules are clear.... Jenson is experienced enough to know that without having to wait for the team to tell him what to do.” On the other
hand, Button was expecting instructions from his team members from the pit as to what to do.
Talking about the quick pit-stop, Massa explained that his team mate Fernando Alonso pitted ahead of him. Massa added, “Given Fernando pitted before me, that left Jenson with another chance to give me back position, but he did not.”
Button did only two pit-stops and finished ahead of the Brazilian driver in the race. Massa’s third pit-stop came in the final laps of the race after which he lost ground to the Englishman.
The next race of the season begins in about a week and Massa has said in an interview that the car was slower than the one used in the pre-season testing. Massa added that Ferrari will not give easy ground to any team in Malaysia, including Red Bull.
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