Earlier this week Niki Lauda claimed Lewis Hamilton had ‘destroyed’ a room in Mercedes hospitality after poor qualifying at the European Grand Prix. Now Williams sources are reporting a similar incident at the Austrian race in which a furious Felipe Massa pushed a bag of crisps onto the floor.
‘I’ve never seen anything like it,’ said an onlooker. ‘Someone had obviously just told Felipe they needed to change his wing and he’d have to start the race from the pit. Next thing you know, he came walking quite briskly into the hospitality suite. He didn’t say anything, he just walked over to the table and pushed a packet of crisps off the table and onto the floor.’
‘I can’t say how much damage was done but I’d estimate that at least one or two of the crisps inside were probably a bit broken,’ our source continued. ‘And it’s just not the sort of thing you’d do if you were thinking straight because these are special F1 crisps and the whole packet is worth upwards of 80 to 90 pence.’
Witnesses say the sound of the packet of crisps hitting the floor caused such a noise that up to one person might have turned round to see what was happening. ‘After the crisps hit the ground it was incredible,’ our spy explained. ‘Felipe stood there for a second then he said ‘sorry’, picked up the crisps and put them back on the table. After that he went and sat quietly in the corner having a big drink of water and signing some promotional merchandise. He seemed to calm down, but I’m pretty sure he was already regretting pushing those crisps off quite a low table like a maniac.’
