Massa "lost 40 seconds" due to Hamilton debris

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

Browse all 2014 Belgian Grand Prix articles

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

dam00r (@dam00r)
24th August 2014, 21:15
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. Glenn McClelland (@fmassa1997)
  24th August 2014, 21:18
  Rob Smedley also gave the 40 second number
2. Jules Winfield (@jules-winfield)
  24th August 2014, 21:19
  Umm, Smedley said that, not Massa.
3. Quant
  24th August 2014, 21:24
  The “40 seconds” quote appears to be from Smedley, not Massa.
4. Carlitox (@carlitox)
  24th August 2014, 21:25
  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. Patrickl (@patrickl)
    25th August 2014, 12:41
    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. PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
  24th August 2014, 21:33
  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. BasCB (@bascb)
    25th August 2014, 6:31
    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. Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
  25th August 2014, 11:58
  I also lost 40 secs. Listening to excuses.
Patrickl (@patrickl)
25th August 2014, 8:28
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. Imre (@f1mre)
  25th August 2014, 20:01
  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. Patrickl (@patrickl)
    25th August 2014, 20:44
    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.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
25th August 2014, 9:38
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. Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
  25th August 2014, 12:04
  @bullfrog You mean Carlos Reutemann…
  1. Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
    25th August 2014, 12:47
    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…
Wais (@itswais77)
25th August 2014, 9:39
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.
Gideon Hadi (@)
25th August 2014, 13:13
Hamilton seem quick in the first stint, but he dropped a lot after second pitstop
Carlos
26th August 2014, 1:50
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.