Felipe Massa does not understand how Fernando Alonso escaped punishment at the U.S. Grand Prix after making two questionable overtaking manoeuvres towards the end of the race.
Alonso made contact with Massa as he passed him on the inside of Turn 15, resulting in a puncture for the Williams driver and putting an end to his chances of finishing higher than seventh. The incident was investigated following the race, but after both drivers put forward their arguments the stewards decided not to take any action. Alonso later passed Carlos Sainz by running off the track, but in that instance the stewards felt no need to open an investigation.
Speaking in Mexico, Massa could not believe that neither incident warranted a penalty.
"I spoke together with the stewards, yeah," Massa said. "My only thought is that he [Alonso] had good friends there, to be honest. "If you look from the top it looks amazing what he did. If you look from his inside camera he was far away. He was not close enough to try to overtake. He didn't brake. When he braked he locked the wheels and just hit me.
"If I was not there he was never going to go through the corner. Never. Which definitely the stewards need to evaluate, need to have the decision. Sometimes it is a little bit inconsistent, sometimes not. Maybe some times it is correct or not. "But then he had another one [with Sainz] that he was outside braking, he braked too late. He went off the track and everybody is happy.
"So at least one of these two incidents he was supposed to get a penalty -- like many other drivers have by doing that, or some other drivers didn't by doing even a little bit too much. So it's inconsistent."
Alonso, meanwhile, stood by his move, saying he took a risk and was lucky also not to suffer a puncture on his car.
"No it's a corner where you cannot see the inside or the apex. You brake more or less in the middle part of the circuit and the apex is way on the left, so it's a corner that is a blind entry sometimes. The movement and the commitment that you have to do is quite big because you know the risks that are on this manoeuvre.
"But I braked very late on purpose just because of that, because I wanted to put the car alongside him or in front of him because if not then he can't see me. So I braked very late for that reason. Unfortunately we touched each other, he had a puncture, I had a slow puncture as well with a tyre rim broken, so very, very lucky."
When asked if Massa was unhappy in the stewards' room, Alonso said: "No. It's a race incident and everyone has maybe similar opinions or at least the stewards have that opinion so there is not much to talk about."