Sebastian Vettel accused Felipe Massa of doing favours for former Williams team-mate Valtteri Bottas on the final lap of the Russian Grand Prix.
The German missed out on victory by just six-tenths of a second from the now Mercedes driver in Sochi having closed a five-second gap following his pit-stop but was held up by the Brazilian as they rounded Turn 4 for the last time.
“He did cost me,” Vettel claimed post-race. “First of all, he handed a very pleasant tow to Valtteri on the last lap, and I was in the DRS, which was tough enough to do, and then he let him by and I don’t know if he knew there was another car coming. I don’t think, maybe.
“Obviously Felipe did him a favour twice. Once handing him a pleasant tow and then he cost me a bit of time. But that’s how it is with back-markers.”
Massa would hit back at the four-time F1 champion’s comments jibing: “He’s never on the radio complaining, no?
“I left completely the inside for him. I backed off before in Turn 4 and he didn’t want to go. I saw that he was afraid to dive inside. I was completely on the left. I let him by straight after that. Anyway, he really likes to complain.”
Congratulating Bottas, for whom the 36-year-old postponed his retirement by a year to allow him to move to Mercedes, Massa added: “I’m so happy for him, he deserves it, for the driver he is.
“Maybe people are not talking about him at the right level. I said straight away when he signed he would do a good job, and he’s doing that. Now he’s a different driver because he achieved a victory.”
