F1: Massa thought podium finish was lost

Felipe Massa says he thought he'd missed out on a Brazilian Grand Prix podium when he was given a five-second stop-go penalty for speeding in pitlane.

The Williams racer, who finished third behind the two Mercedes drivers, was penalized for speeding in the pits while making his first stop, which required him to serve a five-second penalty during his second stop.

"I think the race was amazing, everything happened in my race today," he said. "I am so happy, but not happy with my mistake today. "I just had a problem when I came for the [first] pitstop, I pushed my limiter but it didn't go. I think I could have lost the podium in that mistake with the penalty for five seconds.

"I was so disappointed it happened, then I was pushing even harder, but the problem is you cannot push so hard as you use too much of the tires. I managed to take care of the tires and managed to have a good pace straight away."

It wasn't Massa's only mistake of the day; he also stopped in the McLaren box during his third stop of the afternoon, before being waved on and into the Williams pit.

"They changed our garage this race, and we are a lot more in the middle," he said. "And McLaren, with similar colour, they were there, I thought it was our garage. So I lost a lot of time with that but I was pushing again, managing the tires and opening the gap again compared to Jenson [Button].

"It was really a fantastic race. The people are still here, screaming, the whole energy is difficult to explain. Amazing."

Originally on Autosport.com