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Massa: Red Bull driver swap could help Williams
Felipe Massa reckons that Red Bull swapping Daniil Kvyat for Max Verstappen could give Williams an advantage for the upcoming races, but admits the balance of power could go the other way, too.
Valentin Khorounzhiy
Edited: May 12, 2016, 3:25 PM
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With Mercedes and Ferrari out of reach, Williams has more or less settled on Red Bull as its main target, the Grove team aiming to fight for third place in the standings.
And with Red Bull's mid-season promotion of Verstappen - a driver who is yet to race the RB12 - Massa reckons some early teething problems for the Dutchman could give Williams an advantage.
"It's a little bit strange to see a switch before the middle of the championship," Massa said on Thursday.
"I don't know - I think maybe Verstappen is the future that they believe [in] but why they change in the middle of the season is impossible to answer.
"Changing the drivers like that, at this time, is not really the right thing to do.
"Even Verstappen, an amazing talent, the guy is quick, maybe he can win the championship in the future, win races... but for sure he'll [now] get a new car, a new team, a new engineer, a new everything, that he needs to get used to straightaway. Maybe it's a little bit more pressure to put on the boy.
"Or maybe he does a good job straightaway because everything is already working well - and then he'll be a big star for all of you, which is fine. But if it's the right thing to do or not, it's impossible to say."
"If, maybe, [it] creates some problems in Red Bull, is good for us," Massa added, laughing. "For sure, it's not the way I'm thinking - I hope the best for Verstappen and the best for Kvyat. But if we can get more points because of that, that's fine.
"Maybe it'll be even more difficult for us, we don't know."
Offer impossible to refuse
Asked whether he would've accepted the offer to move from Toro Rosso to Red Bull mid-season if he were in Verstappen's shoes, Massa said: "Whatever driver, they want to drive the best car, the more competitive car.
"It's impossible to tell an 18-year-old driver not to sign this [deal], to drive a better car.
"Maybe it's more risk, maybe it can mean more problems, but maybe it can be fantastic for him."
Additional reporting by Jonathan Noble
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