Felipe Massa says the changes made to the pit entry and exit at Interlagos should make the track safer for drivers.
The approach to the pit lane entrance has been remodelled to reduce the chance of drivers hitting the barrier which divides the track from the pit lane. Other alterations have been made where the pit exit joins the track at the Curva do Sol (turn three).
Massa, who has inspected the changes, said “the pit exit is more or less similar, a little bit more side. And I would say corner two is more safe because the wall is a bit more far away so we don’t see so many crashes which we saw many times on that corner. I think it will be a lot safer now.”
“And the pit entrance I would say it was a good job. You still have the wall there in the similar place, this is the only thing that need to be careful. But the pit entrance is better so I would say it’s more safer, it’s better.”
“I really hope we will see no accidents or less accidents than we saw in the past there. So anyway we need to drive to see exactly. It looks OK by looking, you just need to drive it to be sure about it.”
Massa criticised the stewards during last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix when he was penalised for cutting across the pit lane entrance during the race.
Pictures: New pit lane at Interlagos
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David Not Coulthard (@davidnotcoulthard)
6th November 2014, 14:31
Pretty good, I think.
Alex Wilkinson
6th November 2014, 14:50
Have these changes meant that the racing line does not run over the pit entry now? I thought this was believed to be an issue as you could run into the back of a car slowing for the pits around the long apex.
manu
6th November 2014, 15:37
From the picture it looks like they moved the beginning of the pit entry slightly to the right. So I don’t think the line will be different it just won’t cut through the pit lane line now
davros
6th November 2014, 15:05
Why does F1 take the same sponsors to each circuit these days? Pirelli, Emirates, UBS,Shell, Rolex (the Petrobras logo stands out here).
It really detracts from the personality of the circuits in my opinion.
RL
7th November 2014, 2:31
They’re the ones willing to fork out the cash to have their brands plastered across the circuits.
FullSpe3d (@dryyoshi)
6th November 2014, 15:25
Sadly the Senna S has been completely decimated over the last few years, with the asphalt run off area at the first part being installed a couple of years ago, and now the second part also featuring a get out of jail free card. It won’t be long before we see more track limits investigations, and people running wide with no punishment. You can ramble on about safety but that corner has never been a risk to safety, so it’s certainly sad to see it changed. It’s like Parabolica all over again.
The changes at the entry are good though I guess, except the pointless little chicane.
Mike (@mike)
6th November 2014, 15:35
Well, I disagree. We have seen quite a few incidents around that area. I’d rather them be safe than sorry.
And the little pointless chicane is not pointless, the point is to slow cars well before they get near the pit crews.
FullSpe3d (@dryyoshi)
6th November 2014, 16:09
Well at least they should put a gravel trap there if they insist on expanding the run off. Means that they have a little bit of leeway if they do run wide, works better in rainy conditions which are commonplace at Interlagos and stops drivers from running wide without punishment.
Dave (@)
6th November 2014, 15:49
Apart from the small matter of it slowing the cars down so they don’t approach the pit complex at 180mph+
FullSpe3d (@dryyoshi)
6th November 2014, 16:05
Surely the pit lane speed limit is enforced to ensure that this does not happen?
hey (@hey)
6th November 2014, 20:12
Not with brake failure it isn’t.
JerseyF1 (@jerseyf1)
7th November 2014, 11:19
How does a chicane help with brake failure?
PeterG
6th November 2014, 16:43
Its not as if we used to see a lot of cars going off onto the runoff at the Senna S when it was full grass in the past anyway so the changes to the tarmac have not really affected things.
I also gather that many of the changes done to runoff’s at interlagos was done more for the local categories rather than been F1 specific alterations. The only changes done specifically for F1 were the changes to the pits.
Retired (@jeff1s)
6th November 2014, 15:31
The last corner is a new one now, the racing line is totally diffrent.
Looking at the fourth picture, it seems the banking is bigger – though I can misjudge – and the corner is now a much proper one. Although I think drivers will wait the exit of that very last turn to go side-by-side for overtaking.
Dave (@)
6th November 2014, 15:47
I think it’s an illusion, caused by the wall being moved back so far to make way for the new pit entry
Mike (@mike)
6th November 2014, 15:39
I think it looks different because the inside line appears to be wider.
Mashiat (@mashiat)
6th November 2014, 16:23
Where is the change to the pitlane exit @keithcollantine
PeterG
6th November 2014, 16:44
@mashiat
http://www.autodromodeinterlagos.com.br/wp1/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Autodromo-Interlagos-obrasl_041114_Foto_JoseCordeiro_0326.jpg
Strontium (@strontium)
6th November 2014, 23:11
Wow! I knew they’d moved it back a bit but that it a bit more than a bit!
Marco Freire (@mfreire)
6th November 2014, 16:48
They should re-build the original Interlagos circuit so that the short and long circuits can be alternated for use for different racing series. The current circuit is nice but the original circuit was just awesome, IMHO.
KaIIe (@kaiie)
6th November 2014, 19:58
I’m wondering why they simply didn’t use the old and longer pit entry that was used in the late 90s (the last time 1998 I think?). You can see that in this video http://youtu.be/WFqdF4q4duE?t=8m6s
MarcusAurelius (@marcusaurelius)
7th November 2014, 7:23
Did anyone notice the guy who is measuring the distance of the new pit entry? Good preparation :-)