From GMM
A new wheel nut design was the cause of Felipe Massa's pit stop problem that cost the Brazilian fourth place at the recent German Grand Prix.
Massa entered the pits ahead of Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel but a delay cost him the place to the world championship-leading German.
Ferrari's head of track operations Diego Ioverno explained that the team, in the race for faster pit stops in the no-refuelling and multiple tire-stop era, has been experimenting this year with new methods and equipment.
He said that at Silverstone, a new wheel nut design contributed to Ferrari performing the fastest overall pit stops.
"Then in Germany we were again using this new wheel nut, which does work better, but the system is still not perfect and, at Felipe's last tire change, we lost the connection between the wheel nut and wheel nut gun, which cost us around one and a half second," he confirmed.
"So we have more work to do on perfecting it."
A new wheel nut design was the cause of Felipe Massa's pit stop problem that cost the Brazilian fourth place at the recent German Grand Prix.
Massa entered the pits ahead of Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel but a delay cost him the place to the world championship-leading German.
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| Sebastian Vettel leaves the pits while Felipe Massa is still motionless in his box. (Photo: WRI2) |
Ferrari's head of track operations Diego Ioverno explained that the team, in the race for faster pit stops in the no-refuelling and multiple tire-stop era, has been experimenting this year with new methods and equipment.
He said that at Silverstone, a new wheel nut design contributed to Ferrari performing the fastest overall pit stops.
"Then in Germany we were again using this new wheel nut, which does work better, but the system is still not perfect and, at Felipe's last tire change, we lost the connection between the wheel nut and wheel nut gun, which cost us around one and a half second," he confirmed.
"So we have more work to do on perfecting it."