Massa: I was faster than Valtteri

It was a case of what might have been for Felipe Massa as he finished fourth at Silverstone, but he insists the team made the right call by not telling him to move aside for Valtteri Bottas.

The Brazilian produced the start of the season as ducked in between the two Mercedes cars to take P1 with his team-mate Bottas settling into second place ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

Bottas, though, at one stage felt he was quicker than the Brazilian and would've been able to open a bigger gap at the front, but he was initially told not to attack as both drivers were fighting Mercedes together.

Although the Finn was later told "it has to be a clean move and he has pull away quickly" he never managed to get close and both Williams cars then ended up behind the Mercs after the first round of pit stops.

Despite Bottas appearing to have the edge in the early stages, Massa believes he had more pace than his team-mate.

"He was on DRS. It was much easier for him to follow me. But I was quicker," the veteran driver said.

Williams' head of vehicle performance Rob Smedley also feels the team made the right call.

"We told them to hold station and then told them free to race – if they weren't holding each other up," he said.

As for Williams' decision not to pit for intermediate tyres before Mercedes, Massa admits they got things wrong.

"It was a fantastic start but the second stop we made was the worst. We lost the opportunity then to be on the podium and also the rain showed we are not so competitive in the wet," he said.

"My pit stop was slow because we had to clear the rear wing. We waited to long to stop when the rain came."