Felipe Massa has said that he was “screaming” over the radio towards the end of today’s Japanese Grand Prix because of the dangerous conditions the drivers were racing in.
The race at Suzuka was overshadowed by an accident for Marussia’s Jules Bianchi with eight laps remaining. The Frenchman crashed into a vehicle being used to recover Adrian Sutil’s Sauber from turn eight after he spun off in the wet conditions.
The FIA confirmed after the race that Bianchi was unconscious and was being transferred to Mie General Hospital, where he is now undergoing surgery for a severe head injury.
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This weekend’s schedule was subject to much debate due to the presence of Typhoon Phanfone, which caused the torrential downpour at Suzuka. After starting the race as planned at 3pm local time behind the safety car, the race was red flagged after just two laps before restarting 20 minutes later once conditions had improved.
Eventually, it was dry enough to allow the drivers to race without the safety car leading the pack, only for a second downpour to sharply hit the track late on.
In Massa’s eyes, the conditions towards the end were too dangerous to be racing in.
“In my opinion they started the race too early because it was not driveable at the beginning,” the Williams driver said. “They finished the race too late.
“I was already screaming on the radio five laps before the safety car that there was too much water on the track, but then they just took a little bit too long and it was dangerous.
“So we saw that there was some crash at the end and just need to understand what’s happened to Jules, that’s my only worry in the moment.”
