Massa disqualified from Brazilian Grand Prix

Felipe Massa has been excluded from the Brazilian Grand Prix after his tyre was discovered to be running higher temperatures and pressures than permitted.

The Williams Martini Racing driver had his car checked after the 'five minute signal' was given ahead of the Interlagos race, with his right-rear tyre assessed for temperature and pressure.

The FIA revealed the temperature on the tread of the right hand side rear tyre of the car was 137 degrees Celsius, 27 degree Celsius above the maximum tread temperature of 110 degrees Celsius allowed by Pirelli.

The corresponding tyre pressure at 137 degrees Celsius was 20.6 psi, 0.1 psi above the minimum starting pressure.

Placed under investigation, stewards have now decided this contravenes the regulations and have therefore excluded Massa from his eighth place finish around his home circuit.

It means Romain Grosjean is promoted to eighth position, with Max Verstappen ninth and Pastor Maldonado clinching the final point in tenth, despite having his own five-second post-race penalty applied for colliding with Marcus Ericsson.

Williams has confirmed it will appeal the disqualification as it contests the accuracy of the FIA's readings.

The FIA have clamped down on tyre temperatures and pressures in recent races after Mercedes were discovered to be running incorrect pressures at the Italian Grand Prix. Though it was judged to be illegal, the team escaped punishment as it didn't contravene procedures.