Montreal: Felipe Massa accused rival driver Sergio Perez of being “dangerous” after the Mexican had caused their near-300kph collision in Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix.
Massa spoke out in the early hours on Monday after both men had escaped serious injury in a horrifying accident on the closing laps of a memorable race which saw Australian Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull claim his maiden victory.
Brazilian Massa had tried to pass Perez for fourth position as they approached Turn One when their cars collided, an impact that sent both into the barriers at high speed.
“We’ve had the rules for a few years that when one car is up the side, the other cannot move anymore,” said Massa, who was driving for Williams.
“He just move and we touched. It’s dangerous. For me, five places is not enough. He was dangerous. We could have crashed into (Sebastian) Vettel.”
Mexican Perez of Force India was given a five-place grid penalty for the next race, the Austrian Grand Prix on June 22.
Both men were able to walk away from the accident, but the impacts were of such force – Perez hit the barriers at 27G – that they both had to go to hospital for precautionary observation and check-ups.
Massa added: “I talked to him at the medical centre. I was so disappointed with him.
“I said that he needs to learn. I wanted him to put himself in my place, because I had a huge crash and honestly I thought it was going to hurt.
“It’s not the first time that he turned into somebody under braking. He did this many times. He didn’t say anything, he just turned and left. I hope he learns.
“We are doing around 300kph there. With another car in front it could have been a very serious accident.”
Perez said he was suffering with electrical and rear brake problems in the closing stages of the race.
“On the final lap, I was defending my position going into Turn One when I suddenly got hit from behind,” he said.
“It was not easy in the final laps and I was pushing hard to try and get ahead of Nico (Rosberg) for the lead.”
Force India posted a photo on their Facebook page that appeared to accuse Massa of turning into Perez from behind.
The team also posted quotes from their driver: “It was very disappointing to lose such a strong result through no fault of our own. I was following the same line and braking patterns as in the previous laps and I just got hit from behind by Massa.
“There was plenty of space on the left of my car to attempt a clean overtake and I cannot understand why he had to scrape by. (AFP)