Felipe Massa left Sochi with only 2 points after finishing the Russian Grand Prix in ninth, despite having another good start when lights out on Sunday.
Williams' driver passed Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo at the start, keeping him at bay through the opening corners to hold sixth. Massa ran on that position for most of the race but was forced to pit for a second time on lap 41 with a slow puncture, which dropped him to ninth place. Th Brazilian caught Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon towards the end, but ran out of laps before he was able to regain any of the places lost to his puncture.
Massa dropped to eighth place in the Drivers’ Championship, behind Force India's Sergio Perez.
"I'm disappointed, we were just unlucky with the tyres", says Massa.
"I was really taking care of the car and the tyres, keeping the gaps in the right place, and we had a sixth position in our pocket today. It is unfortunate and painful for the team that we have lost good points, but we can't do anything about it. The car felt good, it was consistent with a good pace, I had a good start and first lap. I was around eight seconds ahead of Perez, we were just unlucky.
"I'm so happy that Valtteri managed to get his first victory. I knew when he signed for Mercedes that he was going to do a good job there, like he did for Williams, and he's doing it. He will be a different driver now with that first victory in his pocket."
