Formula One news

Race was lost in first stint - Massa

Felipe Massa claimed his chances of winning the Japanese Grand Prix or finishing ahead of Alonso were shot in the first stint of the race when he was forced to pit earlier than planned, apparently suffering from a slow puncture.

"I had a puncture on the tyre so I had to anticipate the pit stop and come in early and that was a problem because I came out of the pits behind Heidfeld who was pretty slow and I lost the position to Fernando," Massa moaned after finishing second.

Massa led from pole and at the start of lap three duly let team mate Michael Schumacher slip past on the pit straight.

"It's disappointing because of what happened with Michael I should have won the race, but couldn't because of what happened in the first stint," he added. "We'll do our best for Brazil. The car wasn't so bad, I was struggling a bit from graining and there was still some wind. The race happened in the first stint because Renault improved their pace so much."

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