Williams driver suffers rear wing failure at 200-plus mph
Tuesday 21 April 2015 15:14, UK
Felipe Massa suffered a scare during Friday’s second practice session for the Chinese GP after a rear-wing failure on his Williams caused him to spin off the track at 200-plus mph.
The Brazilian was braking at the end of the 1.1km back straight on the Shanghai International Circuit when an unexpected stall on the wing caused his FW37 to slew off the track.
In the event, Massa's car only nudged the barriers; however, a new front wing Williams introduced this weekend was damaged.
“During the braking I had a problem on the rear wing and the downforce didn’t come back,” he explained afterwards. “So when I braked I had no grip on the rear. That’s why I spun. Unfortunately I lost the second session because of that.
“They changed the rear wing for [team-mate] Valtteri [Bottas] after that problem and then he never had that problem, which is positive for him but not for me because I lost the session.
“I lost the front wing, which was new. It was the only one we had, so it was really a shame.”
With Massa only completing seven laps in all, it was left to Bottas to complete the bulk of the team’s running and the Finn ended the day seventh fastest.
Besides the new front wing, Williams have an updated rear suspension this weekend as they try and make up ground after falling behind Ferrari at the start of the season.
But with Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel respectively second and fourth fastest, and Red Bull pair Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat also faster than Bottas, Massa acknowledged that Williams have their work cut out.
“We will try everything we can,” he added. “[Ferrari] were strong today and even Red Bull was, so we need to prepare everything the best way we can to be competitive."
