Felipe Massa says he doesn't understand why he was excluded from the Brazilian Grand Prix, calling the incident "really strange".
The FIA found Massa's right rear tyre to be 27C over the maximum tread temperature on the grid in Brazil, with the Williams driver being excluded from eighth place a number of hours after the race. The team will appeal the decision and Massa himself told F1i that he doesn't believe the FIA's reading was correct otherwise he would have noticed a difference in the car's handling.
“To be honest I prefer not to answer about the exclusion because I don’t understand,” Massa told F1i at the Race of Champions. “I didn’t understand to be honest. What happened is really, really strange. I didn't feel anything different in the car, for sure if I had that much difference in temperature in the tyres I would feel it was much worse straight away at the first corner.
“Anyway, let’s wait for the team to decide what to do. I am really not worried about that because I trust the team 100% and they know what to do.
"But it was not a good weekend anyway, it was really bad. I expected a much stronger performance in Brazil, I was struggling massively from the first practice session. So I’m concentrated 100% on Abu Dhabi now to finish the season well and to then switch our focus completely to next year.”
Williams confirmed after the race it is appealing the decision, with Rob Smedley saying three separate indicators suggest the tyre was below the maximum temperature imposed by the FIA and Pirelli.
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