New video of Massa’s first-lap crash

2014 German Grand Prix

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http://youtu.be/3QkJGYvku-o?t=36s

This video shot by a fan gives a new angle on Felipe Massa’s dramatic crash on the first lap of the German Grand Prix.

Massa’s Williams was flipped onto its roll bar after he tangled with Kevin Magnussen at the first corner.

Although Massa held the McLaren driver responsible for the collision, the stewards did not issue a penalty for the collision.

It is Massa’s fourth major crash of the year, coming two weeks after he was involved in Kimi Raikkonen’s first-lap shunt at Silverstone. He was also taken out on the first lap in Australia, when he was hit by Kamui Kobayashi, and crashed heavily with Sergio Perez on the last lap of the Canadian Grand Prix.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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54 comments on “New video of Massa’s first-lap crash”

  1. Well, a more experienced driver would retract his car to avoid collision! Unbelievable how Felipe is unlucky…

    1. I hope you’re being sarcastic. Because if not, wow… You’re quite delusional and quite certainly brazilian.

    2. +1

      Completely agree.

  2. I love how not even a second later the Red Bull drivers show Massa how you’re supposed to go through that corner wheel to wheel. I have no clue how this guy has a seat in 2014.

    1. I wouldn’t go as far as to say ‘how does he have a seat’ but I also don’t rate Massa that highly. He’s too inconsistent. One race he’s amazing the other he’s nowhere.

      Just out of curiosity, who would you have given his seat to at the end of last year? Bearing in mind how poor Williams were last year and how good Lotus were they were never going to attract the likes of Grosjean, Hulkenberg or Perez. I wish Grosjean had the Williams seat for this year. It’s so hard seeing him drive for Lotus. I hope he is able to get out of that black hole.

      1. Perhaps amazing is too praising but you know what I mean.

      2. Lawrence Burden
        21st July 2014, 9:15

        Paul Di Resta possibly? Felt he was unlucky to not get a seat.
        From my point of view, on engine circuits Williams are clearly the second fastest car and should have a lot more 3rd/4th finishes than they do.

      3. Alas, as a vivd Grosjean supporter, I’m afraid these Dark Lotus days will be the death of his career in F1.

        I also write this because I have a knack for being wrong 94.1% of the time.

    2. Felipe is maybe not the driver he was since his huge accident in 2009, but, Felipe is still the guy that deserved the 2008 championship. He’s having a great battle against his current team-mate, in a formula that has changed much since his introduction. He’s still fast and driving well. When it comes to it, Fernando is making Kimi look a little slow. Would a switch of teams made Grosjean any quicker than Botas? I doubt it. Felipe has a handful of a team-mate, but he’s certainly up to the challenge, and is a great team-player.

      When it comes to penalties, let’s face it, Massa was in front, with the racing line.

      1. Give me a break! Massa said he wasn’t ahead, and he should have braked. Well, this angle shows he did…for Bottas. If KM was really “going for the win on the first lap” he would habe crashed into Bottas…but KM lifted and braked after VB spun his wheels…Massa on the other hand came in from the outside and cut KM off ay the apex. A rookie mistake from a veteran.

  3. Massa beggars belief that he thinks Magnussen responsible for that!

    1. Two maturer F1 drivers would have got around there fine.

      1. What do suggest K Mag should’ve done. He was in front when Massa turned in on him. Massa’s fault hands down. He wasn’t paying attention to anyone but Bottas. Rookie mistake by the veteran.

      2. Mag was nearly alongside Bottas going in to turn 1. It wasn’t even slightly Mag’s fault. Racing incident but Massa should have been a bit more aware.

      3. Clearly experience and maturity are very different things.

    2. I think Massa needs to get his head checked. He drove off the line in Malaysia like a maniac, bumping into Fernando… (and eventually blaming him)

      Then in Canada, I thought it was Felipe to blame again by putting his car in a position of risk with Perez and Vettel battling in front. (Stewards might disagree… but I still think it was Felipe’s mistake)

      There is no way that Felipe can blame Magnussen for yesterday’s crash. Kevin was on the inside and ahead of him. Felipe should have been more aware of his surroundings

      I don’t think I’ve seen someone blame other drivers more for his own mistakes

  4. Having now seen that properly, that was all on Massa.

  5. I know Massa is an emotional and passionate personality in the paddock and it’s part of what we all like about Brazilian racers, but how many times has he blamed everyone else but himself in any of the collisions he’s had in the last few races and recent seasons. He needs to quit complaining about others and blaming others when he’s involved in an incident, he’s throwing away too many chances in an arguably race winning car this year

  6. Good video. Magnussen was on the racing line right behind Bottas until Massa “optimistically” came over and found him. The stewards must have figured Massa took himself out of the race and even though it compromised Magnussen’s race some it didn’t completely take him out. Massa could have received a penalty and it would have been his fault.

  7. The video confirms that Massa deserves a penalty.

    1. Because rolling and retiring isn’t already a penalty.

      1. Well based on the FIA’s so called consistency this year he should of got a penalty for compromising Magnussen. We’ve seen it already this season, one of which was in Massa’s favour which was debatable anyway.

      2. No, it isnt.

      3. @raceprouk

        Because rolling and retiring isn’t already a penalty.

        No it isn’t . Just ask Grosjean

        He ruined another driver’s race … that’s what the penalty is for

        1. KMag finished 9th, which is exactly where the McLaren is on pace. What’s more, KMag’s car was essentially undamaged after the collision. So I don’t buy this argument that his race was ruined in the slightest.

          Compare that with Grosjean at Spa 2012, where he eliminated not just himself but also Alonso, Hamilton and Perez. Not only that, but Alonso’s head was 6 inches from being hit side-on by an entire car.

          1. After the collision, he fell back to last place, and he got to 9th from last. I’d say he could have done a lot more if not for this.

          2. KM would certainly have ended better. He started his charge more than 10 seconds behind the last car because he had changed tires during the very brief SC period. That alone puts him in front of Button. If you add the lost time fighting through the field, I’m pretty sure there were more places lost.

  8. When stewards do not penalise Massa they must understand that they create a precedence that this type of driving is OK and will not be penalised.

    1. Michael Brown (@)
      20th July 2014, 22:33

      The stewards also assign penalties based on result – if Magnussen was forced to retire they would have looked at this differently.

      1. well said. Did I see that Trouble Magnet fall off of Massa’s car from that angle? I hope so.

        1. @ferrox-glideh Sorry for my poor english / f1 knowledge, but can you please explain what is Trouble Magnet?

          1. A Trouble Magnet is a mysterious piece of technology that attracts Bad Luck.
            A joke, apparently :)
            There is no fault with your english/f1 knowledge.
            It is my humour that is warped.

  9. Holy cow but those phones though!

    I just don’t get it… you pay hundreds of euros for a direct view of the most action-packed moment of the race and you choose to watch it through a tiny screen, all for what? So you can prove you were there – and could have experienced it if you wanted to but chose not to? On the off-chance that you catch a unique view of an incident that all the professional quality broadcast cameras do? I can understand a handful of enthusiasts doing it but this was almost every single person in that grandstand. What gives?

    1. Not sure if they were watching it through the phone (the zoom makes it seem like a small digital camera rather than a phone however) but I suppose it’s a way of ensuring you have recorded your unique perspective of a bit of history, no one else on the planet had the same experience and computers are more reliable memory stores than our brains. Having said that, I got completely carried away two weeks ago and do regret that!

      1. Computers certainly are not more reliable memory stores than our brains.

        1. I’d disagree with you, but my phone scrolled your comment up to fit the keyboard and I can’t remember your username.

          1. Exactly!

      2. If you follow the link on the YouTube page the video above is recorded by a hobbyist or semi-pro photographer, indeed probably on a superior piece of hardware. I certainly don’t begrudge him for shooting it – it’s the thousands of people in front of him that baffle me. They can’t all be photography enthusiasts!

        I wonder how many people ever watch their shaky, badly-framed footage again. I’m holding out hope that we’re in a novelty phase and the post-event regret such as you expressed will eventually turn people off and the practice will die down. There must be at least a little herd mentality involved where people see all the phones and feel they’re missing out on their own awful keepsake, so hopefully this can work the other way too.

    2. It appears to be the way young people experience everything these days, it doesn’t matter if it’s a concert, sports event or anything else – everything needs recording and sharing on social media.
      I don’t really get it myself, back in the 80’s & 90’s you’d get the odd person filming or photographing events but these days I often feel that I’m alone in a sea of smart phones whenever I go to an event. Metallica have tried to stop this by recording every show they put on and making the video available for free to those who have bought tickets but the last two times I went to see them there were still thousands of people squinting at their phones instead of watching the stage.

  10. Everyone likes to blame massa but i agree with the stewards. I wpukd even say a reprimand for magnussen would have been justified.
    If you look at onboard footage of kevin,s car show hes was opposite lock. Probably that is why he could not avoid him

    1. @moumny

      Everyone likes to blame Massa but i agree with the stewards.

      I wouldn’t interpret the stewards’ response as a complete exoneration of Massa. I suspect they would have acted differently had the same collision resulted in Magnussen retiring and Massa continuing.

      1. I found another video here… (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B33HaWnDovU)

        Magnussen was behind Massa… So, he could avoided that.

  11. Unbelievable how Massa gets away with accusing everybody else when it’s his mistake, he cut right across Magnussen, then blames him for the accident, luckily the stewards didn’t agree. When he hit Perez in the Canadian GP, Massa got out of jail scot free. Such a whiney driver, grow a backbone Felipe.

    Contrast that with Lewis sticking his hand up for what was in reality a 50-50 racing incident..

    1. Funny that, a few years ago Lewis may have been more like Felipe, but Lewis has matured since then whereas… I don’t like to complain about the drivers, but Felipe needs to realise he is insignificant compared to the team, and he needs to deliver for the 500 guys working to give him the opportunity to fight from the top rows of the grid. Instead he is far too unforgiving, leaving no space at all on the racing line. The way he took the corner, you’d assume he was on the back of the grid with no one behind him. I don’t know if releasing him for 2015 is too soon, but unless he gets a win, he’s definitely going to be pressured. Also if you went purely on current performance, you can imagine Massa returning to Ferrari next season with Fernando alongside Bottas. How incredible would that turn out to be!

  12. Massa, Maldonado, Gutierrez, even Sutil are undeserving of racing in the pinnacle of motor racing. They should be voted off the island. How about that for a gimmick, FIA? F1 Idol?

  13. This guy Benny shot a fantastic video.

    He’s also about to learn how the DMCA allows Bernie to take down his video and turn up outside his house by getting the information from Facebook.

  14. If this video has been taken down because FOM believe that through this website its being used commercially, then we can probably say goodbye to all future fan-shot videos. On the other hand, that might mean they actually read this site. Lets all let them know what we think. Maybe a poll entitled “How well do you think F1 is run commercially?”

  15. Um… how have they claimed this? Isn’t it a fan video?

    1. Pretty sure giving FOM exclusive rights to any footage you record of the race is a condition of entry to the circuit printed on the tickets. That’s usually how these things work. Whether that would be enforcable in court is another matter, but it’s enough to give FOM a reasonable claim, and YouTube has an informal policy of bowing to the whims of the party with the most money and asking questions later anyway.

  16. Jens Nedergaard
    21st July 2014, 12:49

    After Massa’s seen the incident he still blames Magnussen 100%, and claims it’s all the same with these GP2 drivers (bonus Info – Magnussen has never raced GP2).
    He also states “I dont recall that I, Kimi or Fernando as young drivers were involved in that many incidents.
    Well a) Kimi is certainly catching up on the number of incidents this year.
    B) Four incidents so far for Massa this year (that one with Perez, did we really all agree with the stewards there was no blame on Massa at all?)
    C) …and more hilarious is the fact that in his first year in F1, Massa was banned for one race for reckless driving

  17. Felipe needs to look at the highlight reel of his immature driving before launching any ‘immature driving’ complaints on rookies.

    I can’t remember the last time Felipe was in an accident and he admitted it was his own fault

    1. Has Massa ever admitted culpability?

      1. Actually, fair play, I’ve found this : http://www.autosport.com/news/atlasf1-report.php/id/8071/ (from 2002!) Only 12 years ago…

        1. That’s probably only because there wasn’t another driver to blame.

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