Ferrari’s Felipe Massa said he held no ill will for a crew member whose mistake during a pit stop on Sunday led to his disastrous finish after starting from the pole position at the Singapore Grand Prix.
In an embarrassing blunder for the Formula One powerhouse, Massa was given a green light to drive with the fuel rig still attached to his car. This resulted in the hose being yanked off its moorings and trailing Massa’s car all the way to the end of the pit lane before he stopped.
The incident happened in the first set of pit stops, and by the time he rejoined the track he had gone from leader to 18th and last.
That was only the beginning of a calamitous race for Ferrari.
Massa’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who started third, crashed his car into a barrier after bouncing over a chicane with three laps to go before the checkered flag.
Ferrari has not identified the crew member who gave the green signal to Massa. Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said the man was so distraught that he broke down and wept before being consoled by the 27-year-old Massa himself.
Massa, who had started on the pole, finished 13th after losing time while waiting for his crew to run the length of the pit lane and remove the hose from his car.
“These things happen. We are all human beings. Everybody can makes mistakes. I am not the kind of guy who goes to the guy and fights with him,” he said. “So I went to the guy and gave him even more motivation because we need him and we need everybody together for the last three races of the season.”
Massa incurred a drive-through penalty for an “unsafe release from a pit stop” because he almost collided with another car while leaving the pit with the hose. A mechanic was knocked to the ground in the incident and was rushed to an on-track medical center but was unhurt.
Domenicali defended the mechanic who gave the green light, and said he will do the same job in the next race.
“You try to be quick, try to find the right slot for the car to be released,” he said. “It is a difficult moment. We have to have a lot of respect for these guys, who are not top drivers but are part of us.”
Red Bull’s David Coulthard had a pit-stop problem similar to Ferrari’s, and the incident left a mechanic injured in his ankle and thumb.
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