Felipe Massa hails his Austrian Grand Prix podium as a “great result” for Williams, especially after it came against the “quicker” Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel.
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Lining up alongside the four-time world champion on the second row of the grid, the Brazilian ran in fourth during his first stint before a slow Ferrari pit stop allowed him to leapfrog Vettel to third.
The German managed to fight back and put intense pressure on the Williams in the closing stages of the race, but Massa eventually succeeded in keeping the charging SF15-T at bay until the chequered flag.
Ok, remind me again why @ScuderiaFerrari replaced @MassaFelipe19 with Kimi… @charlie_whiting @willbuxton @MrDavidHobbs @MrSteveMatchett
— J Becker (@RottenDogRacing) June 21, 2015
“It was a great result today,” he said. “We managed to get the opportunity, which came after the mistake from another team or Sebastian – I don’t know what happened so I cannot say.
“And then we managed to keep the pace, which was good but maybe a little bit slower compared to him. I expected (Vettel) to be close to me at the end and he was. But I managed to keep him behind, that was the most important thing.”
While Massa admits Ferrari still has a slight edge over Williams, the 11-time grand prix winner, who now has over 1,000 career points, is adamant his team is leaving no stone unturned in order to be challenging the Maranello-based outfit on merit soon.
Congratulations @NicoHulkenberg for this amazing victory!! @24heuresdumans with @PorscheRaces happy for you !! pic.twitter.com/0xNzeXcG3q
— Felipe Massa (@MassaFelipe19) June 14, 2015
“It’s very good for the team, these are important points against Ferrari. Also looking at what happened to Kimi today. So we’re not giving up, we’ll fight until the end.
“We understand that maybe they have a little bit of a quicker car compared to us but we’re working very hard to improve and to be there, trying to get back the points they have in front. This is not easy but it’s what we’re trying to do.”
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