“A near-perfect lap” for Felipe Massa, 11th in Mexico

At the end of this season, Williams is engaged in a tight battle to maintain its fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship. However, in terms of pure performance, the team led by Claire Williams and Paddy Lowe is lagging behind the competition, and it is becoming rare for its drivers to make it to Q3.

Mexico was no exception as Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll were unable to make it into the top 10 during these qualifiers. Paddy Lowe, the team’s technical director, expected it: “We knew after this morning’s FP3 that it would be very tight to get into Q3 since the Renaults and Force Indias looked very fast compared to us. It turned out to be the case. We had good runs in Q2, making it through to Q2 easily, with both cars able to do two runs.”

However, the two Grove drivers decided to prematurely end their first stint in Q2 due to the double yellow flag caused by Brendon Hartley’s breakdown. Therefore, they did not follow the same strategy as Max Verstappen, who decided to continue his effort.

However, Felipe Massa had no regrets as he felt he did his best during his second attempt: “I did the best lap I could with this car. It was an almost perfect lap. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to make it into Q3.” The Brazilian veteran will be able to choose his strategy, having free choice of tires at the start: “Maybe 11th is better than 10th place, with the clean side of the track and new tires. Now let’s focus on tomorrow’s race and see what we can achieve. We are in the fight and that’s the most important thing.”

Unlike his teammate, Lance Stroll was far from satisfied with his lap. This is understandable since he is over a second behind the Brazilian’s benchmark. However, the Canadian benefited from the fact that the two McLarens did not participate in this Q2 due to numerous upcoming penalties, which allowed him to secure a 12th place, not too far from the points.