Massa keen to get hands on latest Merc engine spec

Felipe Massa “really hopes” Williams can secure the latest Mercedes power unit spec that was introduced at Monza, though his current engine still has to do another three races.

Having spent its entire seven-token allocation ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, Mercedes only had time to develop and deliver new power units to its factory squad. And though Nico Rosberg experienced some teething troubles, team-mate Lewis Hamilton went on to dominate proceedings.

Massa thinks that, out of fairness, the major upgrade should be made available to the customer teams before the end of the current F1 campaign.

“We just had the new engine in Monza,” said the Brazilian. “So I think we should have maybe another three races – this one and maybe another two – and then after that we should have the last engine [out of the allocated four] to finish the season.

“So if we change it [to the new Mercedes spec] then this is the time, but if we’re going to have this engine or not I don’t know.

“I really hope so, because it’s not nice when you have another team using the same engine as you but they have a more powerful engine. So I really hope we can have the engine, but if we’re going to have it or not, I don’t know.”

With Williams currently sitting in a no man’s land between runners-up Ferrari and fourth-placed Red Bull, Massa admits the Grove-based outfit is already looking ahead to 2016 in an effort to get a jump on the competition.

“To be honest I don’t see really many teams bringing new pieces from this race until the last race. Maybe we’re talking about very little things, but I think many teams are already thinking about next year, including us.

“So I think that’s the way we need to work and the way we need to push. We have some margin in the championship but it’s not finished.

“Maybe in two or three races we cannot finish in the points or maybe some bad things happen and Red Bull can catch us. But you need to think about next year very soon.”

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