Massa wary of McLaren top speed
Date published : 14 Apr 2010 - 13:08:12
Ferrari driver Felipe Massa suspects McLaren's prodigious straightline speed will make it hard to beat in this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.The Woking squad's innovative driver-operated F-duct' system stalls its car's rear wing on straights, thus reducing drag and increasing top speeds.That advantage has been clear through the speed trap figures at the first three races, although the reduced drag also gives McLaren the option of running a higher downforce set-up to improve its cornering performance while matching its rivals' top speed.The back straight at Shanghai is one of the longest full-throttle sections of the season, and Massa fears it could make it hard to race the McLarens in wheel-to-wheel situations.It's a nice circuit to drive and the extremely long straight leading into a tight corner means there is a real possibility to overtake, Massa said in a preview post on his blog.However, we will need to be careful on that straight this year, because we have seen that the McLaren in particular has a very high top speed, so in case of a close battle with them we will have to be careful and ready to defend position.Sauber is currently the only other team using an F-duct, although its C29 is not nearly competitive enough in other areas to pose a threat to the leading teams.Ferrari is working on its own version of the device but it is not expected to be ready for use until the start of the European season at the earliest.In the meantime Massa hopes that development items Ferrari has brought to Shanghai will keep the team in contention at the front.I'm looking forward to the fact that we will have some new components on the car aimed at improving performance, and I hope they prove to be successful to help us in our fight, especially with the Red Bulls and the McLarens, he said.The Brazilian added: My record in Shanghai is not too bad, as I've stood on the podium twice: I came second in 2008 and third in 2007.
