Williams F1 team felt bad asking Felipe Massa to come back
Claire Williams admits she felt bad about asking Felipe Massa to reverse his decision to retire from Formula 1 so he could replace Mercedes-bound Valtteri Bottas
Williams called Massa in December, just after he had been at the factory for the team's Christmas party, but he was happy to return because he'd stopped primarily because he knew that a top drive would not be available, rather than because he wanted to leave F1 altogether.
"Felipe had announced his retirement, we had a whole fanfare around it, and then to have to phone your ex-driver up and say 'would you mind coming out of retirement?', you feel quite bad about it," Williams told Sky Sports News.
"But I've never heard anyone so happy and excited, so it was a big relief for us.
"We are never going to put a driver in the car who we don't believe can deliver.
"As everyone saw even in his last race last year, he has lost none of his motivation."
Williams dismissed claims the team should have looked for a younger driver and left Massa to get on with life after F1.
She added: "I know there's a lot of talk out there, 'Let the guy retire, leave him alone.' He wants to come back.
"Little known to me, I didn't actually realise that he didn't really want to retire, and so I think Felipe is going to do a good job this year.
"He's got a year to just have some fun and sometimes when that's the case the pressure is off.
"He can just go out there and deliver, without worrying about anything else.
"So I'm looking forward to seeing what he could do, and having that pairing with Lance [Stroll] I hope is going to work really well for us."
Share Or Save This Story
Krack: Aston Martin F1 team no longer in “no-man’s land”
Gasly rues costly floor damage from Ocon contact in F1 Japanese GP
How an F1 underachiever became a Japanese political player
Formula 1: The groundbreaking women who drove in F1
Friday favourite: When a GP2 race winner “ate steering wheel” in Alpine's F1 winner
The potential pitfalls Mercedes is working to counter in 2021
Why Williams is still feeling the weight of expectation
Sainz handed unprecedented penalty after F1 British GP
Why similar Williams and Aston Martin failures are oddly reassuring
Bagnaia undergoes successful arm surgery, targets MotoGP return at Silverstone
Why F1's future engine rules offer new opportunities but also new pitfalls
How the new WRC event format at Rally Estonia will work
Bedrin commands GB3's European leg to build sizeable points lead
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments