10/10/2011
NEWS STORY
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Felipe Massa has called on the FIA to act following another controversial clash with Lewis Hamilton.
Just two weeks after an on track clash and off track spat the pair were at it again in Japan, having started the race side-by-side from the second row. The two came together whilst battling for fourth, the Ferrari suffering damage which was to result in the Safety Car being deployed.
"I was much quicker, so I went to the left-hand side and I braked there," the Brazilian told reporters. "I stayed on my line. He moved his car and touched my car. There's nothing more to say.
"For what he says, I don't care," the Ferrari driver continued. "I care about what the federation says and what the FIA does. They have penalised people for much less this year and this time they didn't do it.
"It's the second time in a row after the problem in qualifying as well in the last race," added Massa, referring to Singapore where the two subsequently clashed in the race also. "The FIA needs to take care of that. They are the only ones who can take care of that."
A frustrating race, which Hamilton himself described as "disappointing", followed a nightmare qualifying session in which the Briton failed to complete a second run in Q3 after making a mistake.
"Apologies if we touched," said the McLaren driver. "I don't really know what happened - the car's mirrors vibrate at high-speed, so I couldn't see him pulling alongside me. I want to apologise for our cars' touching, but fortunately nothing happened to either of us.
"There was no bad intention towards Felipe," he added, "I've got the utmost respect for him, he's a fantastic driver and he was extremely quick today.