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Massa hopes for Verstappen/Mercedes opportunities

Felipe Massa hopes a potential incident between Max Verstappen and the Mercedes drivers will open up opportunities for Williams in the Mexican Grand Prix.

Verstappen will start from third place behind the two Mercedes drivers in today's race, with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg on soft tyres compared to supersofts for the Red Bulls. With a long run to Turn 1, Massa believes Verstappen will need to make the most of the tyre advantage at the start which could open up the race for others.

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“I think it’s better for Mercedes," Massa said. "The best tyre to start on is the soft tyre. I think definitely it is much better at the start of the race for Mercedes and maybe even [Sebastian] Vettel can have some opportunities.

“I think Max can maybe have a better start than Mercedes, maybe also with the tow and the softer tyres which is maybe better for the first lap. So I think he will try everything he can on the first lap. Then maybe interesting things can happen! I hope! I’m not supporting anybody - Nico or Lewis - but I really hope! You never know.

“To be honest for us any opportunity is what we need to have, we cannot miss opportunities. Any opportunity is important for the result at the end of the championship.”

And Massa says Williams will have to fight hard to race Force India, with Nico Hulkenberg starting in fifth place - three places ahead of the Williams cars - and Sergio Perez set to start on soft tyres in 12th.

"We know they have a quicker car, we know they have more downforce than us. It’s true that some races we did a good job compared to them, some races not, so this is another one where we need to believe until the end and fight to get more points compared to them."

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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.