F1: Williams to work on Massa grid problem

Williams may adjust Felipe Massa's seating position after he was unable to see a line to help Formula 1 drivers stop in their grid slot at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The start was aborted when the Brazilian pulled up too short when taking his place on the grid and as a result he was handed a five-second time penalty. There is a yellow line in each grid box that drivers can usually line up on the front axle, but Massa insisted he couldn't see it at the Hungaroring.

"Valtteri [Bottas] said he has absolutely no problems seeing, so we'll have to look into it and see if we need to raise Felipe slightly or have a slightly different process and that's what we'll do," Williams performance chief Rob Smedley said. "I don't think he is actually lower [than Bottas], he's not any lower in the legality diagonal, but his physiological head size, where it sits in his eyes compared to the top of his head will be slightly different.

"The track is not cambered on uphill or downhill in any way – he just said he couldn't see it. Even when he came back around when we told him what the problem was, he knew that he couldn't see it so he said, 'I'd better stop short rather than stop long and then get a penalty for that.'

"So he actually tried to take evasive action and then when he came 'round he sort of guessed where it was, he knew that he was short – we told him by how much – and he just moved his car forwards."

Massa, who finished 12th on a day when Williams failed to score with either car for only the second time this season, was perplexed by the problem, suggesting it hasn't been an issue before.

"I don't know if the yellow line is in a different place from this track to other tracks," he said. "It's something we need to improve to be consistent every race. I couldn't see it. Normally I don't have a problem to stop at other tracks."

Originally on Autosport.com