Verstappen race thwarted by Massa clash

It was a case of what could have been for Max Verstappen on Sunday following a race marked by third lap clash with Felipe Massa's Williams.

The Red Bull Racing driver who was demoted to P13 following about of gird penalties but shot off the line with the bit firmly between his teeth. 

Verstappen quickly moved up to P8 in the opening laps but found himself wheel to wheel with Felipe Massa at Turn 1 as the pair fought for position.

A contact ensued and left the Dutchman with a costly right front wheel puncture which forced a pit stop and a change to a two-stop strategy.

"My race was basically finished after three laps. We were always playing catch-up," Verstappen said.

"I had a good start, immediately I was between the Sauber cars and then under braking I chose quite a good line, then out of turn two I got another position and it was all looking good.

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"On lap three I had a touch with Massa and punctured my tyre so my race was really over.

"We started on the softs and then I had a puncture on that tyre, so I had to do a two-stop. Was a bit of a shame. So yeah, what can you do?

The 19-year-old settled into a groove however, eventually moving back up through the field to salvage a P10 finish.

"I tried to catch up and the car was working pretty well, so we cannot complain about that.

"At least we finished the race and at the end of the day I think it wasn’t too bad to end up back in a point-scoring position after what happened at the start.

"Daniel [Ricciardo] finished fourth, so I think the car was working really well.  Hopefully in Singapore we can really fight for a proper podium."

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