Dear Ferrari (F1 content - singapore)

[zelatore]

Dear Ferrari,

Thank you for introducing your new high-tech pit lollypop. Thanks to this device, and it's subsequent malfunction(s), you have handed us both the driver's and constructor's world championships AND nearly killed half your pit crew.

Sincerely,

McLaren International


I know not a lot of you guys watch F1, but if you get a chance to see a replay, you should watch the Singapore race. The venue was spectacular, and even for a newbie to F1, it was easy to see how strategy played out to determine the winner.

My guys, however, completely screwed the pooch.

[McGary911]

I used to follow F1 a lot more closely. You have a link to the pitboard malfunction? maybe on youtube or something? I can't get there from work, but can from home.


They had to close down my branch office in Singapore due to security issues associated with the huge crowds.........

[zelatore]

Just go to Google and type in 'massa fuel hose' or something like that - there's several video clips up on Youtube already. You might find something your firewall won't block.

The basics were this: due to a safety car period, everybody was waiting for the pits to open so they could dive in and take fuel. When the pits went green, Ferrari stacked their cars with Massa in first and Kimi waiting in line behind him. This year Ferrari have done away with the traditional 'lollypop' man who stood at the front of the car with a sign on a stick right in front of the driver saying 'brake' on one side and '1st gear' on the other. When he saw the pit stop was done and the pit lane was clear, he would lift the sign and the driver would go. Now they have a little electronic 'box' hanging over the pits with red, yellow, and green lights that replaced 'brake', '1st gear' and lifting the board. Due to some sort of malfunction, the green light came on for only about 1/2 second, just before the fuel man was done. Of course, Massa was extremely keyed up to get going - not only was he in a solid position to win the race with his main rival (Hamilton) right behind him, but he had his teammate Rikkonnen sitting waiting to get into the pits. So he's on a hair trigger and as soon as the light flicks green he's on the gas and moving. I'm sure he never looked back up at the lights to see if they would go back to red - why would he? (btw, had they had a regular man with a lollypop, he could have smacked the sign back down in front of Massa and maybe he would have only gotten a car length instead of heading down the pit lane).

Since the fuel hose was still attached, it pretty much mowed down all the left front pit crew. I don't think there were any real injuries, but it could have been really bad - you could see the fuel running out of the hose while he drove down pit lane with about 20' of it trailing behind him. Massa stopped at the end of pit road before crossing the white line, the team serviced Kimi and sent him on his way, then (after a few seconds confusion) ran down and eventually pulled the hose nozzle free from Massa's car. Massa had kept the car running the whole time - unbelievably, even after basically being still for about 45 seconds, the thing went on to complete the race. In the old days, if you left a hot F1 engine idling with no air going through the radiators it would overheat and explode in about 10- 15 seconds.

I’m a Ferrari fan, but you have to say they are doing everything they can to hand this championship to Hamilton. They are still a powerhouse team, but with the lose of Ross Brawn and Michael Schumaker they have lost that little extra edge. A few years ago, they simply did not make mistakes like this.

But I will say this: Without MS dominating like he did for so long, plus the rains we've had at several races, this has been an outstanding season of racing. I liked to see MS win for 'my' team, but some years he won almost every race in the season ... that doesn't exactly add to the drama.

[zelatore]

And, I can't say enough about Singapore. This was the first time F1 has run at night. The lighing was specifically designed for TV, and the cars were spectacular - just unbelievable. The place was super-packed, the crowds were high-energy, the city looked beautifull, and the overhead shots showing the 'track' lit up were just stunning. I think they said there were something like 6000 lights in and around the pits and another 3-4000 around the track on an aluminum tracking set on top of high steel poles. They had a dozen large generators providing power. They even went so far as to make sure all the lights pointed in the same direction to give the drivers that subconsious sense of direction as if the sun were shining from one area above.

The only things they could have done better were to lower some of the curbing (Kimi later crashed out when he bounced all four wheels off the ground crossing a curb) and to get a number of large cranes stationed around the track to lift disabled cars off the track faster - like what they do in Monaco. I'm not usually much of a fan of street circuits, but this on was very well done. If Singapore wanted to draw the world's eye and say 'hey, look at what we can do', they did it. A+ to them.

[handfulz28]

I missed the broadcast, when's the replay?

[Ed Donnelly]

A lot of hype on the night and street venue..
I think they did a bang up job too..
The boys in red are really trying to give the chanpionship away this year, and are succeeding...Ed

[zelatore]

Not sure on the rebroadcast - every time I go to Speed's website to check the schedule it locks up my IE.... maybe somebody else can check it out?

[Ed Donnelly]

Wednesday October 1st Speedvision 12.30 to 3.00 p.m. ...Ed