Felipe Massa says he and Sebastian Vettel fell victim of two-stop strategy at Chinese GP – Formula 1
Brazilian driver Felipe Massa after failing to hold onto his second position in the 2011 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix has stated that two pit-stop strategies were not good enough to win the race.
Citing the example of Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel, the Brazilian said that the German was also not able to defend his position when the tyres started to wear out.
Massa was in second position for the middle and later part of the race and was looking to finish the race in good point scoring region, but it all came down to the fast wearing Pirelli tyres.
Massa was on a two-stop strategy and failed to look after his tyre until the chequered flag. The Ferrari team delayed the first stop for both of their drivers in order to complete the last 25 odd laps on a single set of tyres, which did not pay off.
Talking about the strategy, the Brazilian commented, “Looking at everybody stopping straight away, we took the decision already in the first stint and unfortunately it didn't work like we expected.”
Massa added that even Vettel was not able to hold onto his race lead against McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton who was on fresher tyres.
Ferrari’s duo, Massa and Fernando Alonso, showed good speed and reliability in the Chinese Grand Prix. Despite Alonso’s rear wing issue in the race, both Ferraris worked well. Alonso put on a good show together with Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher in the middle
part of the race.
Altogether, Massa did not see the Chinese race as a complete failure and instead he seemed happy about the outcome of the race.
“It was the best race for me this year - one of the best compared to last year as well. It's a shame because we could have finished in the top, and it was not possible,” commented the Brazilian.
Although Alonso has commented recently that the fastest car will win despite strategy, the 2011 season will be a complete strategy induced affair.
The European part of the season will start in about three weeks.
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