Ferrari Ditch Pit Stop Lights for Lollipop
Will Pit Stop Failures Cost Massa the Formula 1 World Championship?
Oct 8, 2008
Ferrari's Singapore GP Disaster
Ferrari will revert to the traditional ‘lollipop’ system to manage their pit stops in the final three Grands Prix of the season. The move follows the team’s disastrous Singapore Grand Prix, where World Championship challenger Felipe Massa was mistakenly released early from a pit stop, with the fuel hose still attached.
Massa had been leading the Singapore Grand Prix comfortable but was left stranded for some time at the end of the pit lane before his mechanics managed to remove the hose. One Ferrari mechanic was injured in the incident and Massa received a drive-through penalty, which ruined his race and meant the Brazilian failed to score any points. Ferrari did not use the lights system for the remaining pit stops in the race but, by then, the damage had been done.
In an interview with the Italian newspaper Gazetta dello Sport, Ferrari team manager Stefano Domenicali explained the team’s decision;
“… we’ve preferred to go back to the old lollipop system because, even if the traffic light system gave us an advantage, at this stage it is better to give all the people who work on the car in these very tense moments an important psychological boost.”
The Singapore debacle was the third time this season that Ferrari’s pit stop system had given the team trouble. At the European Grand Prix in Valencia Kimi Raikkonen left too early and almost took the fuel hose with him. A mechanic was also knocked over in the accident. At the same event Massa was released into the path of Adrian Sutil’s Force India, earning the Brazilian a drive-through penalty.
F1 Boss Ecclestone Responds to Ferrari Criticism
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo was critical of the Singapore Grand Prix, claiming that the track layout and safety car period reduced it to a, “circus.” Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone responded in good humour to the claim, referring to Ferrari’s shambolic pit stop. Speaking to the Mail on Sunday newspaper Ecclestone gave his thoughts;
“If the Ferrari president is right about the Singapore Grand Prix being a circus, then we have to be grateful to him for providing the clowns.”
Without the pit stop problems Massa would very likely be leading the World Championship as the Formula 1 season heads into the final three races. Instead, he languishes seven points behind Lewis Hamilton and McLaren, while his Ferrari team also trail McLaren in the Constructor’s Championship. There can be little doubt that, should Ferrari fail to win either championship, the team will only have themselves to blame.
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