Felipe Massa has dismissed the complaints of Sebastian Vettel after the Ferrari driver struggled to pass the lapped Brazilian on the final lap of the Russian GP.
Vettel was chasing Valtteri Bottas in the closing stages as the pair went through traffic, and he lost crucial momentum behind Massa.
“To be honest so many races he was not happy for so many different reasons,” said the Williams driver. “I left completely the right side for him, I slowed down before corner four, I left the side for him, and he didn’t want to go. I cannot do anything. But it will not change anything for his race anyway, he was not going to pass Valtteri on the last lap for sure.”
Massa was full of praise for his former Williams teammate: “To be honest he deserved it, because he showed that he was a driver that was not really showing his level in the right way, people were also saying that he was under the level that he is.
“I said straight away when he moved to Mercedes that he was going to be strong and doing a good job for Mercedes, so he’s doing it. And he’s still got a lot to learn about a top team. This is his track, and anyway I’m so happy for him. He’ll get for sure a lot more than what he had today.”
Massa meanwhile had a strong race in sixth place until a slow puncture forced an extra stop, dropping him to an eventual ninth.
“I was enjoying it a lot, unfortunately I didn’t enjoy to stop again and losing three positions. That was really painful for us today, but I’m so happy with my race, so happy with my pace. Even on the first lap I managed to get a position back that I lost at the start, I got it back at corner two, so I was doing a very, very good pace during the race.
“Unfortunately these things can happen in the race. I had a puncture, but I was driving really careful just to get to the end. Unfortunately, I was not lucky today, but I’m really happy with my race.”
He added: “It shows that it was good not to retire! I’m happy with my performance, happy with my result, and we need to keep doing and working like that.”
