F1 driver Felipe Massa handed five-place grid penalty

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Felipe Massa's wretched weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix continued on Saturday when he was handed a five-place grid penalty for a yellow-flag offense in final practice. The Brazilian Williams driver was also given three penalty points on his license for failing to slow for double waved flags.

His weekend began miserably on Friday when he crashed on his first lap in opening practice and damaged his car, ruling him out of any further action for the day.

Williams' Brazilian driver Felipe Massa drives during the first practice session at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Spa on August 25, 2017 ahead of the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix. / AFP Photo

Massa was back in action after recovering from a bout of vertigo at last month's Hungarian Grand Prix where he dropped out of qualifying and the race after complaining he felt dizzy and sick.

Massa's penalty is not expected to hurt his chances. Two Sauber drivers, Germany's Pascal Wehrlein and Sweden's Marcus Ericsson, both received five-grid penalties for unscheduled gearbox changes.

Home hopeful Stoffel Vandoorne is also due to be given a massive 65-place grid penalty after overnight changes of an engine and gearbox following an earlier pre-race introduction of an unscheduled power unit.

Source(s): AFP