Massa: Alonso ‘has good friends’ among stewards

Felipe Massa says Fernando Alonso “has good friends” among Formula One stewards after the Spaniard escaped punishment for his clash with the Williams driver in Austin.

Massa was running in sixth position and chasing Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz in the latter part of last Sunday's United States Grand Prix when the McLaren-Honda star muscled his way past the Brazilian, making contact and running wide along the way.

The incident was investigated after the race but the stewards eventually decided that no further action was required, which left Massa and Williams fuming.

“My only thought is that he had good friends there [among the stewards],” Massa told reporters ahead of this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix. “If you look from the top it looks amazing what he did. If you look from his inside camera he was far away. He was not close enough to try to overtake. He didn’t brake.

“When he braked he locked the wheels and just hit me. If I was not there he was never going to go through the corner. Never. Which definitely the stewards need to evaluate, need to have the decision. Sometimes it is a little bit inconsistent, sometimes not. Maybe some times it is correct or not.”

In order to further back his case, Massa uses Alonso’s next move on Sainz where the double world champion ran wide to complete his overtaking manoeuvre for fifth place.

“He had another one [with Sainz] where he was outside braking, he braked too late,” the future F1 retiree continued. “He went off the track and everybody is happy.

“So at least one of these two incidents he was supposed to get a penalty, like many other drivers have by doing that.”

Chris Medland's 2016 Mexican Grand Prix preview

TECHNICAL SNAPSHOT: Austin

Scene at the United States Grand Prix

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