Mat Coch writes:

Tyre issues on the opening lap cost Felipe Massa the chance of a podium, he believes. After starting second, the Brazilian soon found himself plummeting through the field unable to find purchase in the slippery conditions.

Massa's difficulties were compounded by graining issues which saw him run well off the pace of those he qualified ahead of. "I had zero grip on the tyres because of the graining and I lost a lot of positions because of that," lamented the Brazilian.

While the graining went away once he stopped he then faced a still-damp circuit on slick tyres. Although his performance soon normalised the damage had been done.

"The pace was okay, it was good," he said "You always expect to fight for the podium, but I think if you see also what happened at the beginning of the race then it could have been worse."

It couldn't have been much worse for Fernando Alonso who retired at the beginning of the second lap after damaging his front wing at the start of the race. A strong start saw the Spaniard challenging Sebastian Vettel for the lead before running into the back of the German's Red Bull.

Rather than pitting for a new nose Alonso carried on, thereby becoming the architect of his own demise.

"After making a good start, I touched with Vettel at the second corner: it was a surprise to find him there, I almost stopped and I don't know what speed he was doing," he explained. "Together with the team, we decided to keep going.

"If we'd stopped immediately and then again on lap 3 or 4 to fit dry tyres we would have dropped too far back and definitely lost the chance to finish up front.

"It was certainly a shame, because here we could have fought with the Red Bulls," he added, "but circumstances didn't help and apart from the wisdom of the decisions we took, bad luck really played its part."