Massa: Williams 'put money first' in 2018

Former Formula One star Felipe Massa has accused his former team Williams of putting "money first" in their decision-making for the 2018 season, taking on the inexperienced Sergey Sirotkin due to the financial backing he received, but hopes the team can recover from their poor start to the season.

Massa announced his retirement, for the second time, after the 2017 campaign and insists he is happy with putting F1 behind him.

"I'm happy to have made my decision last year," the Brazilian told Motorsport.com last week.

"I chose the right time and now I'm enjoying my life."

Massa actually quit in 2016 previously, but was brought back by Williams when Valtteri Bottas jumped ship over to Mercedes, and it was reported back then that the team was only too happy to take the compensation money from the Silver Arrows for their driver due to their unstable finances.

He thinks money was behind recent business decisions, but hopes they can recover.

"It's true that the team was suffering from the financial situation. And I think they made decisions for 2018 putting money first.

"I have a good relationship with everyone at Grove. I hope that the best for the team comes out as soon as possible.

"I hope Williams can recover."

The 36-year-old is a former driver for Ferrari, and revealed his delight at the Scuderia's impressive start to the new campaign, even if they did not win in China last weekend.

"I am happy that Ferrari has started well," he continued.

"This makes me happy because I've always been a Ferrari fan. What we saw in the first races was great for the sport, because we did not see just one team winning.

"To tell you the truth I didn't expect it. I expected Mercedes to be far ahead of Ferrari. I think even Red Bull could be fighting them."