Massa and Sainz squabble over ruined qualifying laps

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A frustrated Felipe Massa was unhappy with Carlos Sainz after Saturday's qualifying session, claiming the Renault driver deliberately ruined his run in Q3.

The Williams driver will start his very last home Grand Prix from tenth, but lamented an aborted lap in the final segment of the session after stumbling on Sainz's Renault at Turn 4.

"I was so happy with the car in Q1 and Q2, and unfortunately in Q3 I had a driver, Carlos Sainz, disturbing my lap on purpose, on purpose," said Massa.

"And I think that's really amazing, because when you have a mistake from the engineer or maybe didn't know the car was coming, it can happen. But on purpose, no.

"I was much more in front of him when I left the garage. After corner five I let him go, but I was a lot more in front of him.

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"He was completely in front of me, very close, and I lost, you can see in the laptime. That's what happened.

"I even spoke to him and said 'this time you disturbed me on purpose, you knew I was coming.' And he said, 'Yeah, I knew, because you disturbed me yesterday in the long run.'

"I said 'come on man, we are in the qualifying, you know…' He did it on purpose and for me that is completely unacceptable, and this disrupted my qualifying to be maybe four of five positions in front.

"I really hope [the stewards] understand and they see what happened. It was clear I did the corner very close to him. He knew I was there and he didn't let me by, knowing that I was coming."

Massa's claims and the words he put in Sainz's mouth were news however to the Spaniard who delivered his version of what had occurred.

"It's a very strong accusation to say I did something on purpose," said Sainz.

"He could have got out of the way before, in Turn 4. I had to do Turn 4 behind him and I was impeded by him by 2-3 tenths in my first lap of Q3.

"Then he started complaining, talking about yesterday. I don't know why. It's something I don't understand at the moment. I don't know, I wasn't really listening, because for me it's not worth it.

"Yesterday we had some issues on track, for sure, but in qualifying I am never going to risk to penalise someone."

Phillip van Osten

Motor racing was a backdrop from the outset in Phillip van Osten's life. Born in Southern California, Phillip grew up with the sights and sounds of fast cars thanks to his father, Dick van Osten, an editor and writer for Auto Speed and Sport and Motor Trend. Phillip's passion for racing grew even more when his family moved to Europe and he became acquainted with the extraordinary world of Grand Prix racing. He was an early contributor to the monthly French F1i Magazine, often providing a historic or business perspective on Formula 1's affairs. In 2012, he co-authored along with fellow journalist Pierre Van Vliet the English-language adaptation of a limited edition book devoted to the great Belgian driver Jacky Ickx. He also authored "The American Legacy in Formula 1", a book which recounts the trials and tribulations of American drivers in Grand Prix racing. Phillip is also a commentator for Belgian broadcaster Be.TV for the US Indycar series.