16/04/2017
NEWS STORY
Felipe Massa finished sixth in the Bahrain Grand Prix. Lance Stroll's race came to an early conclusion on lap 12 after being hit by Sainz.
Both cars started the race on the supersoft tyre. Felipe gained several positions to jump up to P6, while Lance fell to P14.
Lance was closing in on Palmer before pitting for a new set of soft tyres on lap nine. He rejoined in P18 and set the fastest lap of the race before the incident with Sainz.
Felipe ran as high as fourth after he pitted during the safety car for a new set of soft tyres and passed Ricciardo on the restart.
Raikkonen and Ricciardo both managed to get back ahead of Felipe into Turn 1, which moved him back down to sixth, where he finished 8.2s ahead of Perez.
Felipe moves up to seventh in the Drivers' Championship, whilst Williams moves up to fifth in the Constructors' Championship.
Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: It was a great day for Felipe, he drove extremely well. He had a good clean start, made some places and defended well. Although, ultimately, we couldn't cling on to fourth, but it was a really great drive from him to finish sixth. On Lance's side, he started 12th but fell to 14th on the opening lap. We boxed him early, which had always been our plan because we had the tyres to do it, however it was initiated by a minor flat-spot. On his second stint he was actually setting a very good pace. Unfortunately, he was caught out by Sainz who was exiting the pits. It's a real shame, as the collision brought his race to a premature end. However, I'm sure he'll come back stronger in Russia. Overall it was a great job by the team, we're now up to fifth in the Constructors' Championship and we're looking forward to Russia. Finally, Happy 75th Birthday to Frank!
Felipe Massa: I would say it was a great day and I managed to have a great race with a perfect start. What a great first lap - I passed Hulkenberg and I managed to pass Kimi at corner four. I kept the tyres working in the right way and then I passed Daniel after the safety car which was great. After a while, they managed to get better pace out of their tyres and jump ahead of us with the car they have. But to be honest, the positon I finished today was like a victory and it's important for the whole team. Today is Frank's birthday, and although he deserves a victory, it is like one. I am sure he is happy and very proud of his team.
Lance Stroll: I saw Sainz coming out of the pitlane, I was 50 or 60 metres in front of him in the braking zone, and was already turning in and he drove into my side. There is not much else to say, as I have just seen the video and it was ridiculous. I think the race wasn't going badly. I had a bad start and lost a couple of positions, but boxed early and had a really good beginning to the stint on the soft tyres. I am just disappointed and hope my luck turns round sometime soon. I can be frustrated, but it won't get me anywhere. On the bright side there are many races to go.
Check out our Sunday gallery from Bahrain, here.