Expect to see Jenson Button with fuel hose in-tow very soon

This week Ferrari finally admitted defeat in their battle to prove that their semi-automated pit-stop strategy was the way forward. Imagine our surprise then to learn that Honda are introducing a very similar system for the final three races of the season. Just like Ferrari’s failed technology, the Honda strategy involves a red, amber and green light display and three or four mechanics sitting with their finger hovering nervously over a big red button.

Whether this is something Honda has been working on for a while or they bought down the pub from Stefano Domenicali last night, we do not know. Given that the only team to use this system before has scrapped it because it put a huge dent in their championship challenge, you would have to question Honda’s logic.

And if anyone has a job going for a redundant lollipop stick, let us know.

Even Moto GP champions have to answer when nature calls

Are Ferrari trying to be too slick in the pits?

After the European Grand Prix in Valencia, where Ferrari were hit with a €10,000 fine for an unsafe pit-stop release of Felipe Massa, and Kimi Raikkonen ran over a mechanic after wrongly been given the green light by the team’s semi-automated pit system, Grid Crasher asked you whether it was time to bring back the lollipop man. You answered with a resounding maybe.

So following the Ferrari mechanics’ 100m fuel hose dash at Singapore, we are putting the question to you again. With two mechanics having now been flattened by cars getting the green light to go too soon, should Ferrari now be reviewing their strategy?

Lewis Hamilton interview sticks the knife into Massa

A post-Singapore Grand Prix interview with Lewis Hamilton proved too good an opportunity for a dig at Ferrari for the McLaren PR team to pass up. The interview was full of thinly-veiled swipes at Felipe Massa and his Ferrari team. Even the opening ‘question’ of the interview was a tongue-in-cheek comment against Ferrari.

“The race was a good example of team-work, with your first pit stop perfectly timed and the whole team working faultlessly during a number of high-pressure situations,” said the interviewer.

Pit-stop strategy comes under microscope

Ferrari’s semi-automated pit-stop routine has come in for some criticism in the wake of the European Grand Prix, and understandably so. The system landed Ferrari a €10,000 fine for the unsafe release of Felipe Massa in Valencia in an incident which could have caused a nasty pit-lane collision with Adrian Sutil. And the same system allowed Kimi Raikkonen to tear off down the pit-lane with mechanic and fuel hose in tow.

How did Ferrari get ahead of Renault in pits?

Spanish rags AS Diario and Marca (pillars of truth, both… ahem) report that Renault are looking closely at Kimi Raikkonen’s second pit stop in Hungary. Alonso was ahead of Kimi before the stop, but Ferrari managed somehow to get their driver out ahead, a move that effectively ruined Nando’s chances of making the podium.

Alonso himself was mystified by Ferrari’s lightning-fast stop: “I don’t know how they did it,” he is quoted as saying. “We will carefully study the data and see if they have something that allows them to fill up faster.”