Felipe Massa (left) of Williams crashes after colliding with Kevin Magnussen (centre) at the German Grand Prix. (EPA)
Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen hit back at Felipe Massa’s claim yesterday that he was to blame for their first corner collision at the German GP, saying he had nowhere to go.
Magnussen, 21, said he did his best to avoid driving his McLaren into Massa’s Williams, causing an accident that sent the Brazilian upside down as he bounced across the circuit.
Massa was unhurt, but after a visit to the circuit medical centre he blamed Magnussen for the incident. The race stewards said no action was needed. “For sure, if I had another place to go I wouldn’t have had contact,” said Magnussen. “I didn’t see the replay. It’s a bit difficult to comment if you haven’t seen the accident.
“I’m sorry about the situation, but I did my best and tried to avoid him, but I didn’t really have anything to do. I wasn’t really trying to do anything with Felipe -- so to have contact, with him, was very unfortunate.”
Starting fourth, Magnussen spun and lost several positions as a result of the crash, but recovered to finish in ninth place. Earlier, Massa had said: “The accident was a little bit more scary watching than being inside. I just saw everything the other way around, but I am fine.
“I am so disappointed at what happened. It’s another race and another car that has pushed me out and finished my race -- and, for me, with a car that is very competitive and fast. That’s so disappointing. I was in front and doing the corner in front. If someone needs to watch, it’s the car behind.”
Massa has suffered wretched luck this campaign. At the British Grand Prix at Silverstone last time out his race ended prematurely when in a collision with Kimi Raikkonen’s out of control Ferrari.
Only rapid avoiding action by Massa prevented a far more serious crash. In the Canadian Grand Prix in June, Massa accused rival driver Sergio Perez of being “dangerous” after the Mexican had caused their near-300kph collision.
Bottas delighted to split the Mercedes
Valtteri Bottas was delighted to split the two Mercedes cars in yesterday’s German Grand Prix and says he enjoyed the late battle with Lewis Hamilton.
The Finn made it back-to-back second places with a controlled drive. The 2011 GP3 Champion came under intense pressure from a charging Hamilton in the final laps, but knew where to position his car on the track to prevent the Briton making it a Mercedes one-two. “That was fun,” Bottas said. “That last few laps were close with Lewis, but I am really happy that at the end we could keep our car between the two Mercedes’.
Bottas admitted a perfect two-stop strategy from Williams and knowing exactly how long the tyres would hold on for helped him equal the best result of his career. “It definitely went to plan it worked well,” he added.