Massa “lost 40 seconds” due to Hamilton tyre debris

2014 Belgian Grand Prix lap charts

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There were contrasting fortunes for the Williams drivers in Spa, who were separated by over 45 seconds at the chequered flag.

Valtteri Bottas enjoyed a strong run to his fourth podium finish of the season. But what happened to the team’s other car?

Felipe Massa qualified ninth, three places behind his team mate, and they were still in the same positions at the end of lap one. That’s when things went wrong for Massa, following the collision between the two Mercedes drivers.

“Unfortunately at the beginning of the race I had some tyre debris stuck in the floor that came from Hamilton’s car,” he explained. “This made the car very slow, losing about two seconds per lap.”

Massa was passed by Jenson Button and Sergio Perez, and the problem didn’t get better after his first pit stop because his team hadn’t noticed what was wrong with his car.

The debris was removed when Massa came in for his second pit stop on lap 21. “After that I was nearly three seconds quicker and the fastest car on track,” said Massa, “but at this point it was too late for me to really do anything”.

Massa’s lap times were significantly quicker after that second pit stop. But he still had one more stop to make – his final stop with nine laps to go dropped him behind Nico Hulkenberg and Jean-Eric Vergne, where he finished.

Williams’ head of performance engineering Rob Smedley said Massa was “incredibly unlucky” and the debris “probably cost him about 40 seconds in total with his compromised pace and strategy”.

Belgian Grand Prix lap chart

The positions of each driver on every lap. Use the controls below to show/hide different drivers:

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2014drivercolours.csv

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44
Nico Rosberg 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 5 15 10 8 7 5 4 4 4 5 5 5 9 8 7 5 4 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Lewis Hamilton 2 1 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 17 16 16 16 16 16 18 17 17 17 17 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 15 15 16 16 16 16 16 16 16
Sebastian Vettel 3 3 2 2 2 3 3 3 2 2 4 7 6 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 3 8 7 5 5 5 5 4 4 5 5 5 5 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 7 5 5
Fernando Alonso 4 4 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 2 9 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 6 5 3 3 7 9 9 8 8 7 7 7 7 7 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 7 8
Daniel Ricciardo 5 5 4 4 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Valtteri Bottas 6 6 5 5 5 5 5 5 3 3 2 2 1 6 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 3
Kevin Magnussen 7 8 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 5 5 5 9 7 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 5 4 7 10 9 8 7 7 7 6 6 6 6 6 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 6
Kimi Raikkonen 8 7 6 6 6 6 6 6 7 12 7 6 5 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 8 6 5 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4
Felipe Massa 9 9 8 9 9 10 10 10 10 14 15 15 14 14 14 13 12 12 12 12 12 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 12 12 11 11 11 11 12 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13
Jenson Button 10 10 9 8 8 8 8 8 8 6 6 4 3 3 10 9 8 8 8 8 7 7 6 4 6 6 6 6 6 6 9 9 8 8 8 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 7
Daniil Kvyat 11 12 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 7 9 13 12 12 11 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 9 9 9 12 11 11 11 11 11 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
Jean-Eric Vergne 12 15 14 14 14 14 14 14 13 10 8 9 8 8 8 11 14 14 14 14 14 12 12 12 12 11 12 12 12 13 16 14 14 14 13 13 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12
Sergio Perez 13 11 10 10 10 9 9 9 9 8 14 11 10 10 9 8 9 9 9 9 8 9 11 11 11 10 10 10 10 10 8 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9
Adrian Sutil 14 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 14 11 11 12 15 15 15 14 13 13 13 13 13 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 13 13 13 13 14 15 15 15 14 14 14 14 14 14 14
Romain Grosjean 15 21 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 16 17 19 18 17 17 16 16 16 16 16 17 17 17 17 17 17 17 17 17 17 17
Jules Bianchi 16 22 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 19 19 19 19 19 18
Pastor Maldonado 17 17
Nico Hulkenberg 18 14 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 9 12 14 13 13 12 12 11 11 11 11 11 11 10 10 8 8 7 8 9 9 10 12 12 12 12 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11
Max Chilton 19 20 17 17 17 17 17 17 17 17 17 17 19 19 18 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 18 18 18 18 18 18 19 19 19 19 18 18 18 18 18 17 17 17 16 16
Esteban Gutierrez 20 16 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 13 13 10 11 11 13 15 15 15 15 15 15 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 14 14 16 15 15 15 14 14 14 15 15 15 15 15 15 15
Andre Lotterer 21 18
Marcus Ericsson 22 19 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 18 18 17 17 18 18 17 18 18 18 18 18 19 19 19 19 19 19 18 18 18 18 17 17 17 17 17 16 16 16 17 17

Belgian Grand Prix race chart

The gaps between each driver on every lap. Use the controls below to show/hide different drivers:

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2014drivercolours.csv

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44
Nico Rosberg 0.553 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.587 22.981 23.481 19.063 12.844 5.542 6.293 7.096 8.446 10.205 11.172 17.722 29.757 27.324 25.937 28 27.013 25.062 23.624 17.503 3.523 3.372 3.336 3.01 3.641 3.611 8.022 22.569 19.675 17.782 15.494 13.168 10.805 8.416 6.241 4.37 3.383
Lewis Hamilton 0 43.41 59.518 58.831 58.727 58.336 57.898 56.862 57.672 58.272 54.588 50.193 44.86 46.952 49.558 51.93 58.819 74.253 73.519 73.288 73.181 74.159 74.366 73.907 73.96 74.46 70.133 58.113 60.346 63.033 72.031 89.78 90.065 91.549 93.981 96.787 98.615 113.491
Sebastian Vettel 1.659 0.728 0.81 0.906 2.011 2.053 2.246 1.615 2.819 8.004 16.535 11.056 4.633 5.798 6.58 7.798 8.924 10.011 10.954 11.697 12.619 17.93 31.056 30.593 31.349 31.423 26.849 14.832 16.925 18.799 21.02 23.06 25.032 30.617 44.706 44.254 44.109 43.915 43.679 43.897 44.553 47.801 50.546 52.196
Fernando Alonso 2.358 1.212 1.306 2.182 2.524 2.681 2.853 2.985 4.147 5.101 1.347 1.428 13.987 15.174 15.671 16.153 16.826 17.876 18.866 19.531 22.244 24.917 26.245 26.401 32.009 46.029 40.393 27.735 28.359 29.545 29.731 30.638 31.168 32.012 32.541 33.59 36.037 37.622 39.533 41.481 43.36 47.42 51.149 61.162
Daniel Ricciardo 2.82 1.775 1.785 1.446 1.183 0.721 0.745 0 0 0 0 6.835 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Valtteri Bottas 3.497 2.584 2.386 2.778 3.104 3.084 3.345 2.31 3.424 4.317 0.134 0 6.334 6.753 7.73 8.59 9.45 10.532 11.531 12.466 13.548 14.166 14.669 14.426 14.793 14.783 10.57 3.076 17.796 19.174 19.536 20.512 21.409 22.245 23.535 24.317 25.364 25.986 26.867 26.364 26.277 26.291 26.4 28.032
Kevin Magnussen 4.879 4.616 4.986 5.418 5.813 5.497 5.753 5.538 7.289 8.874 9.798 17.547 11.803 12.535 13.756 15.133 16.155 17.185 18.173 18.919 22.076 24.263 29.546 40.962 40.472 40.848 36.746 23.838 24.881 26.198 27.188 28.336 29.327 30.796 31.751 33.115 35.815 37.088 38.655 40.372 43.043 46.961 50.578 54.262
Kimi Raikkonen 3.909 3.175 3.114 3.441 3.636 3.91 4.026 7.723 21.346 20.754 15.174 9.309 2.403 2.784 3.561 4.112 4.864 6.202 6.988 7.728 13.247 27.075 28.677 29.685 29.57 30.056 25.335 13.046 14.483 15.98 17.221 18.48 19.456 20.618 21.676 23.084 24.537 25.463 26.322 28.519 29.814 31.117 32.986 36.815
Felipe Massa 5.688 5.915 7.776 9.619 11.57 12.214 13.791 14.295 22.771 39.602 36 31.882 27.095 29.541 33.006 35.754 38.731 41.545 43.836 46.574 54.008 68.173 67.092 65.393 64.367 63.606 58.462 46.81 48.355 49.626 50.745 52.205 53.707 55.725 62.265 76.064 75.345 74.505 73.866 74.143 74.04 74.297 74.406 75.975
Jenson Button 6.023 6.754 7.461 8.231 8.693 8.546 8.677 8.314 10.183 11.551 8.885 4.857 4.12 18.495 19.697 20.945 21.748 22.16 22.477 22.65 23.611 25.642 27.634 30.057 31.81 33.064 29.312 17.674 24.601 38.271 38.12 39.085 39.57 40.072 40.638 41.176 41.65 41.741 42.101 42.601 43.962 48.404 51.643 54.58
Daniil Kvyat 6.834 7.764 8.843 10.512 12.225 12.862 14.322 14.756 16.056 21.752 31.507 25.617 18.844 19.594 21.88 23.404 25.081 26.903 28.492 30.219 31.715 34.297 35.596 40.895 56.92 56.107 51.318 38.741 40.633 42.433 43.427 44.799 46.108 47.205 48.473 50.189 52.229 53.838 55.635 57.153 59.019 60.673 62.57 65.347
Jean-Eric Vergne 8.809 10.65 11.932 13.307 14.822 16.128 17.342 16.963 19.398 21.204 19.539 16.089 12.053 15.691 23.296 38.969 40.851 43.017 44.71 47.686 50.477 51.873 53.72 54.558 55.778 57.71 53.78 42 48.604 63.29 62.826 63.255 63.502 64.002 63.939 64.14 64.353 64.664 65.054 65.667 66.283 67.648 69.327 71.92
Sergio Perez 6.341 7.172 8.169 9.961 10.439 10.657 11.003 11.042 16.915 31.017 26.003 20.881 15.46 16.751 19.472 22.303 24.58 26.067 27.648 29.093 31.09 37.797 51.675 51.303 50.923 50.596 45.782 33.203 34.649 36.607 37.774 40.729 42.84 44.466 46.657 49.188 51.024 52.663 54.436 56.459 58.113 59.672 61.563 64.293
Adrian Sutil 7.815 9.184 10.846 12.492 14.514 15.477 16.729 17.82 20.431 23.889 26.005 35.46 29.005 30.58 33.324 36.015 39.079 42.014 44.403 46.956 54.632 69.547 69.664 69.049 68.743 68.174 63.627 51.6 53.381 55.263 56.629 58.858 60.8 67.409 81.736 80.744 80.458 79.87 80.072 80.305 80.263 80.431 81.239 82.447
Romain Grosjean 16.931 37.593 38.813 40.451 42.138 44.022 45.26 45.529 47.85 49.774 47.336 44.669 45.367 60.583 62.103 65.185 66.962 68.234 69.241 70.619 71.937 73.708 76.649 77.721 79.109 80.109 81.411 87.219 90.063 92.866 95.333 98.748 107.529
Jules Bianchi 48.309 66.662 68.168 70.049 71.738 72.978 74.381 75.379 78.31 81.201 79.244 76.599 73.007 76.626 80.637 84.841 89.036 93.412 97.371 101.285 105.742 110.438 120.441 136.818 139.143 141.272 138.555 131.99 136.106 140.146 146.368 149.389 152.672 157.703 163.499 167.944 171.421 175.417 207.492
Pastor Maldonado 11.42
Nico Hulkenberg 8.087 8.358 9.549 11.07 12.846 13.459 14.791 15.485 18.795 24.507 34.594 29.502 23.359 24.848 26.587 28.106 29.497 30.966 32.037 32.971 34.356 35.866 37.665 38.466 39.506 40.708 38.714 28.121 31.636 38.793 54.059 55.149 55.925 56.942 58.231 58.786 59.665 60.523 61.599 61.992 62.137 62.388 63.074 65.697
Max Chilton 13.684 16.656 19.694 22.506 25.435 28.161 30.965 32.619 36.934 41.513 46.019 57.962 54.077 58.169 62.516 66.738 70.975 75.398 79.243 82.897 86.811 91.034 95.415 98.986 102.64 106.352 104.656 96.071 105.862 125.342 126.849 129.524 131.995 135.618 139.969 142.865 145.783 147.917 150.996 158.21 163.728 167.782 174.725
Esteban Gutierrez 9.788 11.252 12.721 14.641 16.381 17.14 18.522 18.705 22.285 25.642 23.606 21.576 18.253 26.976 42.942 44.32 45.717 46.866 47.824 48.974 51.232 52.976 55.25 56.327 59.145 60.803 57.049 46.062 50.468 58.388 72.824 73.498 74.552 75.62 76.374 78.341 79.451 81.715 83.021 84.793 86.416 87.542 88.947 90.825
Andre Lotterer 12.333
Marcus Ericsson 13.086 16.106 18.779 21.72 24.806 27.399 30.077 31.498 35.393 40.151 44.55 56.93 53.25 57.058 60.749 65.577 69.853 73.843 78.053 81.401 85.33 89.275 93.283 101.882 118.812 119.74 116.881 106.435 110.059 114.822 119.413 123.095 126.647 130.101 134.41 139.553 143.147 146.66 150.513 155.952 163.384 169.892 175.391

2014 Belgian Grand Prix

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Image © Williams/LAT

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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18 comments on “Massa “lost 40 seconds” due to Hamilton tyre debris”

  1. Bottas +28s after RIC
    Massa +75,9s after RIC
    -40s for Massa brings him 7,9s after Bottas. I think Massa is just giving out a number that would bring him closer to Bottas finish time

    1. Rob Smedley also gave the 40 second number

    2. Umm, Smedley said that, not Massa.

    3. The “40 seconds” quote appears to be from Smedley, not Massa.

    4. If you look at the lap times charts, you’ll see what he’s talking about. After the 2nd stop, Massa was as quick as Bottas, sometimes even quicker. He’s not making excuses. Though being quick and actually overtaking are very different things.

      1. Bottas was on the Soft compound and Massa on medium. Then when Massa switched to new softs he was of course faster than Bottas on his worn out softs. Then Bottas got fresh mediums and he was acutally faster on those than Massa on softs.

        The charts merely seem to reflect tyre differences and Massa’s imagination running wild again how he could be on the podium “id only”.

        Rosberg also goes 3 seconds a lap faster too when he switches from medium to soft (of course hepled by getting free air).

        Compare Massa’s lap times to Sutil’s. They were driving together during the whole race. Indeed Massa was under more pressure when he was doing his stint on mediums, but the first stint not.

    5. In the shades of everything maybe he should once have a trouble free weekend. Monza up next, I really think he can score a podium there.

      1. Well, yeah, but qualifying down 9th didn’t help him do much in Spa either, needs to step up a step there to avoid being in the tussle for midfield.

    6. I also lost 40 secs. Listening to excuses.

  2. Seriously, the car is suddenly “2 seconds a lap slower” and he must have felt picking up the debris and still he just keeps going like that? No check for damage/debris during the first pit stop?

    It’s all either incredibly unlikely or incredibly incompetent.

    In reality I think it’s more likely that the lap time difference reflects that Massa was on the medium compound and Bottas on soft, combined with Massa simply being slower on race pace. Perhaps the debris added a few tenths if anything.

    1. 1: “his team hadn’t noticed what’s wrong with the car”
      2a: if a black thing is stuck on the black floor or the car and you have 5 seconds to notice, well… it’s not THAT unlikely
      2b: yes, it would’nt be the first time Williams is incompetent
      3: Perhaps the debris added a few seconds. He was slow before and after the first stop with brand new tyres. Then second pit stop, debris gone, Massa faster. Coincidence?

      1. It works both ways. Massa should have felt it and warned the team.

        I said it already above, but he went from medium to softs. It’s not such a big coincidence that he goes faster then. Rosberg also went 3 secs a lap faster too when he switched from medium to soft.

        Like I said, at worst it cost him a few tenths of laptime. Not 2 seconds per lap. He matched Sutil for pace during the whole race. Not just those first 2 stints.

  3. Massa seems to have the cartoon raincloud following him around. Much as I’d love to see him win again, or assume the Patrese/Regazzoni role at Williams (he’s clearly popular) maybe they should get someone luckier in…

    1. @bullfrog You mean Carlos Reutemann…

      1. A guy maybe past his best and towards the end of his career, but still a winner on his day.
        Popular, cheerful, easy-going, and not likely to get the number one driver wound up. That’s not Reutemann…

  4. Everytime Massa has a minor mechanical glitch, he continues.

    But when it comes to an accident, he retires.

    Funny but true. He isn’t the unlucky one on the grid.

  5. Gideon Hadi (@)
    25th August 2014, 13:13

    Hamilton seem quick in the first stint, but he dropped a lot after second pitstop

  6. I saw the tire piece on TV and a bunch of drivers between 3rd place and 8th were able to get away from the large debris, except Massa. Lewis Hamilton and Massa must go to a voodoo doctor or something. I have never seen so many things happen to these two.

Comments are closed.