Williams’ Felipe Massa has been handed a five-place grid penalty for the Belgian Grand Prix after he was judged not to have slowed sufficiently for yellow flags during Saturday’s third practice session.
Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat stopped on track along the Kemmel Straight, bring out the double-waved yellow flags, and stewards deemed that Massa did not demonstrate that he had eased his pace.
As a result, Massa will drop five places on the grid from wherever he qualifies, accentuating a difficult weekend for the Brazilian.
Massa crashed out of the opening practice session on his first flying lap and a change of chassis meant he was unable to partake in Friday afternoon’s second session.
Massa returned to action on Saturday morning but finished only 16th of the 20 participants.
