Formula One news

Massa - I've answered my critics

Felipe Massa was determined to emphasise that he'd answered his critics in Bahrain after driving a lights-to-flag victory. The Brazilian endured much criticism in the media over the past week for his botched overtaking attempts on Hamilton in Malaysia.

"The best way to answer that is to make a good start after you've had problems in the media during the week," Massa said after winning the Bahrain Grand Prix. "Fortunately it was just one week and the best answer is to do a good start, a good race and finish first. I'm sure now the media will talk in a different way."

"We have a good break now to enjoy with a good result," he added. "The first two races weren't ideal, we had a problem in the first race and the second I made some mistakes. This time we could put everything together and I'm really pleased for the team. For now we need to push really harder as McLaren is quite close."

Massa made a strong start and never looked back, although in the final part of the race Hamilton dramatically closed the gap.

"In the first stint the car wasn't really well balanced and I was struggling," Massa explained. "The second stint was fantastic and the car performed really well on scrubbed tyres and I took away some front wing and I could build a good gap. In the last sector I had hard tyres and had a gap to enjoy so I was just keeping the pace and looking after the car going through the traffic."

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