Felipe Massa has hit back at Lance Stroll for having made ‘insensitive’ comments about Massa not helping him during his debut season at Williams.
Massa had also commented on how Williams had gotten Stroll into the setup only because of the amount of money that he brought in along with him.
Stroll had refuted that statement from Massa, saying that ‘Massa had retired’.
Stroll recently made a statement about how Massa did not help him enough during his initial days at Williams, a statement that has left Massa absolutely devastated.
Massa has reverted by saying that the amount of things he did for Stroll were greater than what Schumacher did for Massa when he came in as a young driver.
“I did a lot for him, with all humility. I met him when he was seven years old, so for me it was a pleasure to help him. He came in with a great difficulty in having the speed, understanding a Formula 1 car, understanding how the car works, understanding how the tires work. He was 18 years old, I was very close to him, I talked to him a lot, I tried to help. Things that even Schumacher, which for me was a teacher, did for me what I did for him. I was upset, it was not what I imagined.” Massa said.
Massa also did not hold back in his criticism of the Williams management and how they were thinking short term with respect to the drivers they had recruited.
Both Sirotkin and Stroll were chosen because of the financial influx they could bring into the system, something that Massa believes is the problem at Williams at the moment.
“In Formula 1, most of the drivers are there for the talent, because they won in kart, won in the formula categories, and had the chance to enter by the talent. Williams, just over a year ago, picked up a driver (Stroll) who got in on the money he was bringing to the team with financial difficulty. They took a pilot not for talent, but for money. I left the team, and they got another pilot also taking money. They had a hard time developing, they made a car that was not what it should be, and they went to a side that is not correct in my opinion.” he said.
