15/07/2017
NEWS STORY
Having lured Felipe Massa out of retirement after Mercedes wooed Valtteri Bottas to replace Nico Rosberg - still with us - for the most, part Williams must be pleased with the move.
In the opening phase of the season, as rookie Lance Stroll faced a number of issues, not least his lack of experience, the Grove outfit's hopes of points and reclaiming fourth in the team standings from Force India rested squarely on Felipe Massa's shoulders.
For the most part the Brazilian delivered, taking sixths in two of the opening three races. The innocent victim of Carlos Sainz' over-enthusiasm in Canada, the ever-popular Brazilian looked set for a podium finish - possibly the top step - in the madness of Baku, until a suspension issue caused him to retire.
Out-qualifying his teammate 8-1 so far this season, many feel that Massa is enjoying a Riccardo Patrese style Indian Summer to his long career, however, speaking at Silverstone Claire Williams refused to say whether the Brazilian will be retained in 2018.
"There's a lot of talk about drivers across the paddock," she said. "For us, we've decided we're going to hold off a bit on our driver decision.
"We've got a fight on our hands on the race track at the moment," she continued, "and to be distracted by those kinds of conversations isn't something that we want to be happening at the moment. (Force India has) a nice points haul on us at the moment we need to focus on, rather than anything else."
On the other hand, sorting out Massa's contract for 2018 now would allow both parties to concentrate fully on the job at hand.
Check out our Saturday gallery from Silverstone, here.