As Sebastian Vettel was trying to catch up to Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages of the Spanish Grand Prix he experienced a bit of déjà vu as he came up to lap Felipe Massa.
Just as had happened in Sochi, Massa moved aside but Vettel hesitated slightly and ended up losing a chunk of time. But this time instead of flipping him the bird he just came on the team radio and said “Why does it have to be Massa all the time?” As if they were chatting to each other, Massa also said on team radio “I think he is scared of me, man!”
Naturally everyone jumped on the opportunity to try and make a big thing about it, but Sebastian is a lot calmer this year, and when he was asked about it after the race he pretty much just shrugged it off. He said:
“No, I like Felipe. He was giving me space so nothing to blame on his side. It’s really slippery and then when you get close to the car in front I just locked up both wheels. At some point I wish I had a handbrake to get the rear turned! It was really close, I was lucky not to bump into him and damage my front wing. But it’s difficult for him because he gives the space and he just waits for me to go through.”
He also admitted that the nature of the corner where he caught him makes it difficult to pass someone and that Felipe isn’t to blame:
“I should look at the lines in Turn 10. Sometimes you are really at the kerb but most of the time you are 1.5 or two metres off the apex kerb there. It was quite slippery and I obviously underestimated that so if anything it was me to blame – but it a bit of a pity because again it was Felipe. Last race we had a bit of a misunderstanding, this one again but he’s very experienced and he knows how to move in these situations, so nothing to blame for him.”
Formula 1 in 2017 is weird, isn’t it? The sport is starting to care about the fans, we’ve got two title rivals who are genuinely enjoying racing each other, and Mr. Blue Flag himself isn’t showing any animosity towards the guy who’s held him up twice in two races. Why is everyone being so nice?!
