Massa calls for safety car rules change
| By Pablo Elizalde |
Friday, October 3rd 2008, 11:58 GMT |
 Felipe Massa insists the safety car rules need to changed quickly following the problems during the Singapore Grand Prix.
BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica and Williams's Nico Rosberg were penalised for having to pit while the pitlane was closed during the first safety car period.
The safety car situation also turned the race upside down and helped Fernando Alonso, starting from 15th, take his first win of the season.
Massa reckons the system needs to be looked at immediately in order to avoid situations like the one lived on Sunday.
"The whole night racing experience was a nice idea, interesting and very different," said Massa.
"However, this specific race did highlight the fact that the Safety Car rules still need to be looked at very carefully, because the idea of Formula One is that the race should be won by the best driver and car combination on the day.
"I know we made mistakes, but the current system, as you can see from the final result of Sunday's race, means that the Safety Car can promote someone from the middle of the grid to the lead, not because of a clever strategy but simply by luck.
"I think the system needs to be changed and this problem was highlighted by the difficult nature of the Singapore track. The bumps in the track surface is another area that should be looked at before we go back next year, but the track itself was nice and different, with more similarities to Monaco than Valencia. There are just a few little details need changing."
Massa failed to score any points in Singapore after a pitstop incident, and the Ferrari driver is now seven behind Lewis Hamilton with just three races to go.
The Brazilian, however, believes Ferrari have a very strong car at the moment and says the target to the final three races is to score one-two finishes.
"As for the championship, like I said on Sunday, it depends how you look at it: a seven-point gap can be a lot or it can be a little," he said. "If you look at what happened to me in Singapore where my gap went from one point to seven so suddenly, then you have to consider it could easily go the other way as well.
"The most important element to consider is that we have a very good car. Without that, my chances would be much smaller. We have two good cars and we can try and get both of us to finish ahead of our rivals. It can be done and we need to think positive and we need to keep fighting to the last race.
"The motto for the rest of the season has to be look ahead and don't give up. As our Team Principal Stefano Domenicali said after the race, we really need to try and finish first and second in all the remaining rounds. It's a tough call, but everyone in the Scuderia will be trying their best."
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