Felipe Massa's heavy crash during FP1 for the Canadian Grand Prix was caused by a DRS problem, Williams has confirmed.

Early in the session, Massa lost control approaching Turn 1, causing him to take to the grass in the braking area. With the Williams pitched into a spin, Massa slid backwards into the tyre barrier and heavily damaged the rear of his car.

The Brazilian took to team radio after the crash to say: "I think I had a problem, I closed the DRS and lost the rear completely".

Williams has now confirmed the incident was caused by a problem with Massa's DRS, which did not close fully under braking for Turn 1.

Massa's team-mate Valtteri Bottas had no such problems during the opening session and was able to complete the most mileage of any driver as Williams attempted to compensate for the lost data in FP1.

AS IT HAPPENED: Canadian Grand Prix FP1

Silbermann says ... The world's your lobster

Romain Grosjean column: Racing on two wheels

Chris Medland's 2016 Canadian Grand Prix preview

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

Gasly fumes at Racing Bulls drivers: 'I have a good memory'

Pierre Gasly left Zandvoort with more than just frustration over Alpine’s missed opportunity, taking aim…

14 minutes ago

Netflix extends F1 journey with Drive to Survive season 9

Netflix is keeping the Formula 1 cameras rolling, with the streaming giant confirming that Drive…

1 hour ago

Lawson earns Mekies praise after strong Red Bull return

Laurent Mekies has given Liam Lawson a ringing endorsement after the Kiwi made the most…

3 hours ago

Vasseur responds to Ferrari drivers’ Dutch GP strategy fury

Fred Vasseur has heard the criticism. He has heard Lewis Hamilton’s frustration, Charles Leclerc’s confusion…

4 hours ago

Wolff’s shock Mercedes admission: ‘We haven’t got the money’

Toto Wolff has delivered a remarkably blunt explanation for Mercedes’ recent slide, admitting that the…

19 hours ago

Alonso says ‘more to come’ after Aston’s Dutch GP points

Fernando Alonso left Zandvoort with something Aston Martin has been desperately short of in 2026:…

20 hours ago