Massa gets grid drop for ignoring yellow flags

Williams’ Felipe Massa will drop five places on the grid for the 2017 Formula 1 Pirelli Belgian Grand Prix after he failed to slow for double waved yellow flags during Saturday morning’s final practice at Spa-Francorchamps.

The incident came just past the midway point of the hour-long session, when Daniil Kvyat was forced to pull his Toro Rosso to the side of the track due to power loss, bringing out the yellows as marshals put out a small fire and cleared the car.

“The driver made no attempt to significantly reduce his speed in the area of the double waved yellow flags,” said the stewards of Massa, after hearing from the Brazilian and reviewing video and telemetry evidence.

Massa, who got close to zero running on Friday after his early crash in FP1, was also given three penalty points on his Super License.

He is one of four drivers facing grid penalties at Spa. McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne will start his home race from the back of the field thanks to multiple power unit element changes, while Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein will both take five-place drops for unscheduled gearbox changes.