Zoom Many things went wrong for Massa at the Singapore GP

Felipe Massa's expected success in the early stages of last week-end's Singapore Grand Prix turned to a nightmare for the Brazilian: a pit stop mistake saw him rip out the fuel line when the green light to go was given too early.

"I didn't feel anything strange at all and there was no sensation that I was pulling something behind me," Massa wrote in his blog. "Then Rob, my engineer, came on the radio and told me to stop because the fuel line was still attached to the car. Only then did I look in my mirror and see it, but by then it was much too late of course."

With Massa stopping his Ferrari further down the pit lane and team members hurrying over to remove the hose, his chances of victory simply vanished amid the confusion.

The unique light gantry used by Ferrari to signal its drivers the moment when they can pull out of their pit stop has many wondering if the system causes more harm than good.

"We don't use this light system just to be clever, because when it works correctly it makes for a faster release from the pit stop than a man operating a lollipop," Massa insisted. "The system can work automatically, linked to the refuelling nozzle coming off the car or it can be overridden and used manually."

During the infamous pit stop, the system was being used manually since the team was checking for debris under the car and wanted to avoid an automatic green light when refueling was completed. However, human error intervened and the 'green light' button was pressed too quickly, leading to the fuel hose mishap.

Add to that a drive-through penalty for cutting in front of another driver in the pitlane, a loss of control on the track and a puncture, and Massa's podium position was transformed into a faraway 13th place at the chequered flag.

Things continued to go wrong for Ferrari at Singapore when Kimi Raikkonen crashed out only four laps from the finish - his fourth consecutive race without a points score.

"It was a day to forget and move on," Massa wrote.

"Looking at a positive aspect of the weekend, our car seemed to have made a step forward as a result of our recent work and we had a great car throughout the three days, with a good enough performance level to have finished first and second," the Ferrari driver continued.

"But for all the reasons you know, we failed to score a single point," Massa added.

Daniel BASTIEN
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