Massa reacts to Stroll's claim he was not his mentor at Williams

Former Williams teammates Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll appear to be at odds over the amount of help the Brazilian veteran offered the Canadian rookie last year.

In an interview with Autosport, Stroll said he did not think he "had any guidance from him [Massa] last year, whatsoever". The quotes were made in the context of Russian rookie Sergey Sirotkin replacing Massa at Williams this year, creating the least experienced driver line-up on the grid.

But Stroll argues that having a teammate of Massa's experience did not make a big difference to his rookie year.

"He was a team-mate like any other," Stroll said of Massa. "He was busy trying to drive as fast as he could, and I was trying to drive as fast as I could. That was it. There was nothing more to it than that.

"I don't know why people seem to think there was a coach or a mentor thing going on.


"There wasn't; it was just him doing his job and me doing mine, and whoever did it better finished ahead.

"Whether my team-mate is someone with 15 years' experience or someone of one year's experience, my approach doesn't change."

Speaking ahead of the 2017 season, Stroll said he was "really looking forward" to having Massa as his mentor and during the season Massa revealed the extent to which he felt he was helping Stroll out.

Massa retired from Formula One at the end of the 2017 season after taking part in 269 grands prix over 15 seasons.

Author: Laurence Edmondson, ESPN UK
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