Felipe Massa has said the laps spent behind Daniel Ricciardo when he made his only pit-stop cost him a position to Sebastian Vettel thus missing out on the podium.
Massa was running third for the whole of the first stint before pitting two laps before Vettel, who was a second behind the Brazilian.
Two quick laps from Vettel, in conjunction with Massa being unable to pass Ricciardo meant the Ferrari got ahead into third place – where he remained for the rest of the race.
“The aim of today was start the season with a solid points haul and demonstrate that we have a competitive car. We have managed to achieve much of what we wanted so this has been a positive start.
The only disappointing part of the race was that I was jumped at the first pitstop by Vettel after losing a second and a half behind Ricciardo on my out-lap which was enough to lose the position. I have faith in the team and the car and we head to Malaysia knowing we are very much in the fight.”
Images Courtesy of Williams F1 Team
