Tyre Problems Cost Massa Dear

Massa ran strongly in the points for a big part of the race, but began to drop down after making his second pitstop on lap 44 due to his front tyres causing a strong vibration.

The problem first caused him to go off and then his front wing was damaged when a tread from the tyre began to break up. Massa was forced to pit, losing all his chances of a good result.

Teammate Jacques Villeneuve was never in contention and finished in 13th, one place ahead of Massa.

"We had a disappointing ending to what had been a great race for us," said technical director Willy Rampf. "Felipe was able to steer clear of the first-corner incident and drove with strong pace and the chance to score points for sixth place until he encountered a problem.

"We have yet to examine the tyres, and while we await a report from Michelin we will also carry out our own analysis of all our car data from the race.

"As for Jacques, his strategy was compromised by the first-corner collisions and he was never in a position thereafter to be able to recover the lost ground."