Electronic? Yes. Cool? Yes. Too many issues with the darn thing this year? YES! If you ask me, and no one is, I think Ferrari need to go back to the standard man-holding-a-sign method in their pit stops.Felipe Massa nearly dragged the entire Vodka rig down the pit lane after being ‘green lighted’ by the Ferrari system to leave the pits. Now it may be human error and someone turned the green light on but honestly, a Lollipop sign can be dropped back down into the drivers face in quick fashion should he need to immediately stop or there is an error. So let’s look at Ferrari’s mess(enjoy it until they have to take it down):
In Valencia, Kimi Raikkonen had a similar incident and Felipe Massa was released from his pit stop in to oncoming traffic.
Felipe says the return of the lollipop man could just happen.
Felipe Massa has admitted that abandoning Ferrari’s unique ‘traffic lights’ pitstop solution is an option, following yet another blunder in Singapore on Sunday.
The latest mistake could cost the Brazilian the world championship, after he fell 7 points behind McLaren’s title leader Lewis Hamilton by failing to score at F1’s first night race.
Massa pulled away from a pitstop too early, ripping the refuelling hose from the rig, knocking over a mechanic, and incurring a penalty for driving into the path of another car.
“It was not a technical failure, but a human one, so the same thing can happen with any system,” the 27-year-old told reporters when asked if Sunday’s incident might finally compel Ferrari to abandon the ‘traffic lights’ system.
“Of course we could return to using a lollipop, but today’s problem was not about this,” Massa added, explaining that because a mechanic pressed a button too soon, the green light on the driver gantry simply came on too soon.
“These things happen,” he continued. “We are all human and we can all make mistakes.”
Team boss Stefano Domenicali confirmed: “It was Felipe himself who went to console the mechanic who made the mistake.”
