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Massa offers sympathy for Hamilton

Cape Town - Williams driver Felipe Massa sympathised with Lewis Hamilton after the recently concluded Malaysian Grand Prix, comparing his engine failure to the one he suffered back in 2008.

On Sunday, Hamilton was comfortably in the lead with a 20-second gap and 16 laps remaining. However, the Brit suffered an engine blow-out and relinquished his first place to eventual race winner Daniel Ricciardo.

Massa said he knows what the Mercedes driver was feeling and reminisced on the time he was in a similar situation at the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix.

"We all saw the big disappointment of Lewis Hamilton," the Brazilian said in his column with Motorsport.com.

"It reminded me very much what happened to me in 2008 in Budapest, when I was firmly in the lead at the Hungarian Grand Prix and a few laps from the end my engine failed suddenly on the finish straight.

"Thing like this are hard blows for a driver to deal with. It is not just the disappointment of losing a race, but there is also the knowledge that points have gone missing in the championship.

"I remember the great sadness I felt at the time, because you know that you have done nothing wrong. But mechanical problems are a part of the sport.

"Unfortunately you have to take these things into account, and it is still easier to accept than what I suffered at Singapore in 2008."

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