Breaking news
Formula 1 Singapore GP
Massa "supporting McLaren" in the Singapore GP
Williams' Felipe Massa says he will be supporting McLaren in Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix in the hope it can take points off its Formula 1 rivals in the constructors' championship.
Lawrence Barretto
Edited: Sep 16, 2017, 6:12 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Williams had a tough qualifying session, with Massa and Lance Stroll faster than only the Saubers in 17th and 18th at Marina Bay.
The team is locked in a tight battle of fifth in the constructors' championship, leading Toro Rosso by 15 points, Haas by 20 and Renault by 21.
With McLaren's Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne starting eighth and ninth respectively, Massa is hoping the duo can have a strong afternoon to aid the Williams cause.
"I'm supporting McLaren a lot tomorrow because they can get some points from teams that we are fighting," said Massa.
"Also Force India (Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon start 12th and 14th), if they can get positions tomorrow to finish in front of teams that we are fighting like Toro Rosso and Renault, it's good for us.
"After this race, we need to fight hard with these teams that have a quicker car than us for the moment, in many different tracks.
"We have 21 points to Renault. Renault is a team I'm more afraid. Renault has a better car than us and they have a better car than Toro Rosso as well."
Massa hit the wall hard in Q1 and then suffered oversteer in the penultimate corner on his second run.
"The car was not competitive, I had big oversteer and I hit the wall," he said. "Then I came back, changed the tyres and I was doing a good lap time to pass through Q2.
"I got to the last corner, I had big oversteer, I lost between half a second and seven tenths so my qualifying was not good. The car was really oversteer in the last sector."
Williams technical chief Paddy Lowe believes Massa may have been caught out on his second run by oil on the track from an earlier Porsche Carrera Cup Asia race.
"The car is quicker than the times you saw on the board," said Lowe. "Felipe had a bad afternoon. In Q1 hit the wall. I don't know if he thinks the same, but I guess the oil into Turn 20 might have had some impact.
"He hit the wall very hard. There was some bodywork damage, which had some aerodynamic impact. The lap he was on, we think it would have been a 1m43.3s which is seven tenths quicker and would have put him 13th."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Singapore GP: Post-qualifying press conference
Next article Aston Martin set to be Red Bull's title sponsor in 2018
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Lawrence Barretto
Sirotkin, Stroll to have two race engineers each
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sirotkin, Stroll to have two race engineers each
Hamilton "sacrifice" saved Mercedes an hour of testing
Formula 1
Formula 1
Hamilton "sacrifice" saved Mercedes an hour of testing
Kubica regrets being "too honest" about driving limitations
Formula 1
Formula 1
Kubica regrets being "too honest" about driving limitations
More from
Felipe Massa
On this day: Michael Schumacher wins… and stuns tifosi with F1 retirement
Formula 1
Formula 1
Italian GP
On this day: Michael Schumacher wins… and stuns tifosi with F1 retirement
Defendant ordered to pay £250,000 legal fees in Felipe Massa F1 title case
Formula 1
Formula 1
Defendant ordered to pay £250,000 legal fees in Felipe Massa F1 title case
Felipe Massa’s F1 2008 lawsuit will proceed to trial
Formula 1
Formula 1
Las Vegas GP
Felipe Massa’s F1 2008 lawsuit will proceed to trial
More from
McLaren
What's behind Oscar Piastri's split with Mark Webber – and what it means for his F1 career
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
10 h
What's behind Oscar Piastri's split with Mark Webber – and what it means for his F1 career
Malthe Jakobsen completes McLaren's WEC Hypercar driver line-up
WEC
WEC 10 h
Malthe Jakobsen completes McLaren's WEC Hypercar driver line-up
Latest news
Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
7 h
Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
8 h
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 8 h
IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing
Noah Gragson apologizes to Daniel Suarez for spinning him at Homestead
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
8 h
Noah Gragson apologizes to Daniel Suarez for spinning him at Homestead
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe