Felipe Massa hopeful of avoiding pit-stop woes in Spanish GP, says crew must gear up – Formula 1
Ferrari driver Felipe Massa is hoping that his crew gears up for the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix and try not to repeat the same pit-stop woes of the Turkish Grand Prix of the 2011 Formula 1 season.
Massa stated that he was eyeing for a top five position in the Turkish GP when a few bumps in the pit lane saw him slip out of the point scoring finishes.
Massa commented, “I would say I had a few too many [pit-stops], because without them I was definitely heading for a top five finish. We do a lot of pit stop practice, but that Sunday it just did not work properly.”
Massa added that the pit crew is under pressure all the time firstly because the fast degrading Pirelli tyres keep the drivers to visit the pits often. Secondly, after the ban on the refuelling, the crew gets less time to change the tyres.
The Turkish Grand Prix saw a record number of pit-stops at more than 80. Out of them, Massa and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton lost some time in the pits as their cars’ wheels did not come off in time.
In his first pit-stop, Massa almost collided with Hamilton. In his last pit-stop, Massa’s right rear wheel was giving a problem and it took the pit crew more than expected time to get it fixed. The Brazilian lost some time but said that the pit crew along
with the drivers should work hard to overcome such woes.
“I think you need to train as much as possible, practicing the pit stop procedure. It is important for every member of the crew to be a bit more precise, because it's no good having one good stop followed by a bad one,” added Massa.
The next race of the season in Barcelona on May 22, 2011 is not famous for its overtaking manoeuvres. However, Massa thinks that Formula 1’s new rules will play well to break that monotony in Spain.
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