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Massa wants kerbs changed

After a crash in qualifying

By Franck Drui

29 October 2011 - 15:43

Felipe Massa has called for changes to the Buddh International Circuit after he crashed out in qualifying for the Indian Grand Prix.

On his final run in Q3 Massa went deep into turn eight and, on the wrong side of the kerb, grounded the car hard. The impact broke his front right suspension and the Ferrari driver ploughed straight through the gravel traps and into the barriers.

“What happened on my last timed lap was a real shame,” he said. “Today, we had the potential to secure a good placing, as Fernando demonstrated and as can also be seen from the fact my sixth best time was set with a rather slow third sector.

“I came into turn eight and went over the kerb and the front right suspension gave way in the impact with the raised orange part, which in my opinion is too high at this point. It’s a very fast corner, taken at around 215 km/h and it could be arranged differently. These are details that need improving for next year.

“I am disappointed, because the car has been going well all weekend long,” he added. “Now I find myself with one less set of soft tyres and with a broken front wing. It was the new one, which we had here for the first time and it delivered a bit extra in terms of performance. Tomorrow, overtaking will be difficult because of the dirt on track, but I think we will still see a lot.”

It was a better afternoon for team-mate Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard finished fourth but will start the race from third spot on the grid due to Lewis Hamilton who qualified second being docked three places for an infringement on Friday. “It was important to get onto the front two rows, as it’s easier to fight for a good result from here,” said Alonso.

“I don’t think there’s much of a difference between the two vertical lines of the grid because the ideal line on the start-finish straight goes down the middle, so both sides are quite dirty.

“I came very close to the front row, which is a bit of a surprise,” he added. “In recent qualifying sessions, we have not managed to get as close as this to our main rivals and already yesterday we looked reasonably competitive. Usually, on Sunday our performance level is better but that does not automatically mean that we will be fighting for the win. There are too many unknowns, even more than usual and then, we have seen how things can change from one track to another.”

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