Ferrari return to pit-lane lollipop

Eurosport - Wed, 08 Oct 13:06:00 2008

Ferrari will use the 'lollipop' to tell drivers when to leave the pits in Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix after their traffic light system caused chaos in Singapore.

FORMULA 1 2008 Singapore GP Ferrari Massa Panne - 0

Felipe Massa, battling with championship leader Lewis Hamilton for the title, had his race in the city-state ruined when he drove from the pits with the fuel hose still attached after a mechanic made the light go green by mistake.

Ferrari's light system usually works automatically when the fuel hose is removed from the car, but in Singapore it was in manual mode.

"In this moment we need tranquillity and therefore we prefer to go back to the old system," team boss Stefano Domenicali.

Other teams still use the lollipop, which a team member holds in front of a driver before the pitstop is completed.

McLaren's Hamilton leads Brazilian Massa by seven points with three races left. The final grand prix is in Brazil on November 2.

Reuters

Comment 34 - 53 of 73

Sort comments by: Most recent
  1. At long last!
    Formula 1 is a dangerous competition. Therefore it needs the team's discretion capability to make the best decision in a second split. The use of an automatic mechanism in this system is the elimination of the decision capability. The accident to be expected. It's only a question of time. Ferrari and Massa probably will pay the price of this crazy idea with loosing championships. The opponents, Hamilton and Mc Laren are too good to give them such an advantage.
    I wish I'm not right.
    Martian

    From Andras, on Wed 8 Oct 4:51PM
  2. I think Ferrari should quickly develop a system where the car will not go into gear until the fuel hose disconnects.

    Maybe they can get it going before this week end!

    From Patarac, on Wed 8 Oct 4:49PM
  3. stivsf1 & Ginger-Gitt, We are talking about Ferrari here,why don't they have a team member stand in pit road with his hand up to tell the other drivers to wait until the Ferrari has finished his pit stop and would now like to re-join the race and doesn't wish to be behind anyone. I'm sure Ferrari can propose it to the FIA and get an immediate approval, in time for Fuji.

    From usalien1967, on Wed 8 Oct 4:32PM
  4. sreten.sf95 - Just to let you know that its not all about winning is it? Massa 5 Hamilton 4 its about how consistant that a driver can stay in the points i.e Massa has had 5 no point scoring races compared to Hamiltons 3 and just to let you know i wouldn't go into luck trust me

    Massa ummm got gifted 6points in Spa and then got a extra 2points on the exhaust problem on raikkonens car in Magny Cours so Massa has had more luck than Hamilton here

    From Marti, on Wed 8 Oct 4:17PM
  5. stivsf1: I agree it is the most advanced system in the pitlane, but in two races this year it has shown that it has the potential to be dangerous, whether there is a human involved or not. If they wish to keep it as a way of gaining that one tenth of a second in a pit stop and for it not to be dangerous then they need two things. The first is better sensors so there is no accidental tripping of switches before the pit stop is over, and the second is a form of detection system for cars approaching it from behind. Either technology in the form of radar, or the guy who used to do the lollipop who can press a button if needed to stop the lights changing. I prefer the latter, less to go wrong.

    From ginger_gitt, on Wed 8 Oct 3:45PM
  6. I hope they keep it . Watching their pitstops is a bit like the Keystone cops. Who said the last race was like a circus ?. Ferrari took the lead role. All quite funny as long as nobody gets hurt.

    From chtech06, on Wed 8 Oct 1:55PM
  7. CONFUSE me yes confuse me not. i wrote/tried to explain that FERRARI lights system is not flowed,it is the most advanced system up to the point of it being on auto mode, when not being opperated on auto mode because of pit-lane trafic it is the human opperating it that can be flowed [do a mistake],in VALENCIA it being opperated on auto was a mistake by the crew that is because of pit-lane trafic and nothing wronge with the lights system itself

    From stivsf1, on Wed 8 Oct 1:14PM
  8. CONFUSE me yes confuse me not. i wrote/tried to explain that FERRARI lights system is not flowed,it is the most advanced system up to the point of it being on auto mode, when not being opperated on auto mode because of pit-lane trafic it is the human opperating it that can be flowed [do a mistake],in VALENCIA it being opperated on auto was a mistake by the crew that is because of pit-lane trafic and nothing wronge with the lights system itself

    From stivsf1, on Wed 8 Oct 1:13PM
  9. Very obvious that the light system is dangerous to other drivers. Massa already had 2 penalties for unsafe release. I can't see why automatically attached to the fuel host can't contribute to safer release of divers, maybe faster and that's about it.

    This system must be outlawed or changed.

    From ferraribeng, on Wed 8 Oct 11:40AM
  10. tutti i migliori Ferrari.
    Good Luck Felipe!!

    From iceman_tam, on Wed 8 Oct 11:27AM
  11. i think that massa will win the f1 title his year, because he have more victory then hamillton, and because massa was faster tneh hamillton! hamillton in this year have only the luck, the most in hungary and in the last race in singapur where and the kimi was faster then he before safty car came in the race!!!!GO GO GO FERRARI GO MASSA GO KIMI.....AND I SUPPORT THAT FERRARI RETAURNS RO THE pit-lane lollipop!!!!

    From sreten.sf95@..., on Wed 8 Oct 10:04AM
  12. stivsf1: Which part didn't you understand, I will explain it in simpler English for you if there is a language issue (and that isn't a sarcastic offer, I can only speak the one language)

    From ginger_gitt, on Wed 8 Oct 9:45AM
  13. BLA BLA BLA again, i know that my english is not perfect, i know that you are full of @#$% but now i also know that you are stupid too, you use a tactic of confuse me so that i get confused

    From stivsf1, on Wed 8 Oct 9:09AM
  14. if it's not broken.... dont fix it

    From donbandit11, on Wed 8 Oct 9:01AM
  15. stivsf1: "it is fail-safe as long as it’s on automatic", wrong! It was on automatic in Valencia when Massa pulled in front of Sutil and Kimi ran over his pit crew. It allows him to go the very moment his stop is complete, but a twitchy mechanic can set it off early and there is no fail-safe for cars coming up the pit lane. A completely automatic system is flawed when there is no HUMAN to prevent those sort of accidents.

    From ginger_gitt, on Wed 8 Oct 8:25AM
  16. After reading comments by the brightest brains on earth about FERRARI lighting system which he said is flowed
    For his bloody information the system is not flowed it is the most advanced system yet, it is fail-safe as long as it’s on automatic, up to that point the lolly-pop system is the one prone to mistakes, the problems starts having a chance to happen when traffic in the pit-lane dictates that human operation be made[over ride]from this point onwards the chances of mistakes are as big/small as with the lolly-pop no more and no less

    From stivsf1, on Wed 8 Oct 8:07AM
  17. wave the yellow flag

    From yekaterinabelle, on Wed 8 Oct 7:40AM
  18. ALONSO for victory ,, only great driver on the circuit BON CHANCE

    From yekaterinabelle, on Wed 8 Oct 7:01AM
  19. Hey Borsh A, blame it on ur lovely Ferrari team! Note im not a hater of Ferrari, but their actions in Europe and Spore are totally circus acts. And, if Domenicali didn't make that circus comment, it would not have provoke F1 fans.

    From nicole, on Wed 8 Oct 5:56AM
  20. Will not make any difference, still a clown act with their two drivers i for one am looking forward to it! 12 noon....skating on ice...ha ha ha let me pray for rain!

    From JEFF F, on Wed 8 Oct 4:15AM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account