Alonso and Massa at odds over Austin clash

McLaren's Fernando Alonso and Williams' Felipe Massa had very different views of their clash at the Circuit of the Americas in the last few laps of the 2016 United States Grand Prix on Sunday.

Alonso barged past Massa at turn 16 with four laps remaining in the race, and the two cars bumped wheels on the exit of the corner. The incident was investigated by the stewards after the race who decided that no further action was required, but Massa remained furious with the two-time world champion's driving.

"Fernando dived into the corner I was taking, hit my car and I got a puncture because of it.

"I was just going through the corner and he just dived completely inside," Massa explained. "I was already entering the corner and he just hit my car and I had a puncture.

"Just destroyed the opportunity I had at that moment," he complained. "I think yes for sure, it's his responsibility."

Naturally, Alonso had a very different view of the incident.

"To get past the Williams today you needed to overtake them in different places, like tight, slow-speed corners, and quite forcefully, and it was tough but hopefully enjoyable for the fans.

"I think that I was side-by-side with him, it's not like I was coming from behind or any crazy thing, I was already side-by-side so there was no space for him to turn in," adding that he saw it as a racing incident

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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.