Chassis change for Felipe Massa at Spa
Felipe Massa's off-track excursion forced Williams to change his chassis. The mechanics then embarked on a race against time so that the Brazilian could drive during the second session.
Absent in Budapest due to dizziness, Felipe Massa resumed competition in Belgium. But his first session was cut short by a major off-track excursion in the first quarter-hour.
The force of the impact led the driver to go through the circuit’s medical center, as Paddy Lowe told us between the two sessions: « Felipe is fine. He had to go through the medical center because the acceleration in the car exceeded the limits. But everything is fine. » The leader also added that the driver was considered to be at 100% of his abilities according to the medical opinion.
If the driver emerged unscathed from the crash, the same could not be said for his mount, which was destroyed by the impact: « We had to change the chassis because there was damage that we could not repair here. »
The mechanics’ goal was to be able to get the driver out before the end of the second afternoon session to ensure that all systems were functioning correctly before the crucial day of Saturday. Unfortunately for him, this race was not successful, and the Brazilian was forced to miss a second practice session.
UPDATE: @MassaFelipe19 will NOT run in FP2 – car not ready yet + also needs to be checked by race stewards before going out #BelgianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/MHhXPXtPmW — Formula 1 (@F1) 25 août 2017
From our special correspondent at Spa-Francorchamps
