31/08/2005
NEWS STORY
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During the F1 tests at Monza last week, I was fortunate to be able to spend some time chatting to Felipe Massa about the challenges that driving at Monza present.
Geoff Collins: Felipe, thanks for taking the time to talk to me. What I'd like to do is ask a few technical questions, taking a lap of Monza as the starting point. The first thing I noticed when I arrived this morning was that the track appears very much narrower than at circuits like the Nürburgring or Turkey where you raced last weekend. Is that a problem?
Felipe Massa: It's not really a narrow circuit; it's more the speed that makes the difference here. And it's the only low downforce circuit that we race at. At Spa and Canada maybe we run with quite low downforce, but here there's even less.
GC: And the speed also makes it seem slightly narrower?
FM: Yes, although the main problem is that there is really only one line at most of the corners, and especially at the first and second chicanes.
GC: Obviously at the first chicane you're braking really hard and a lot of people have been locking the inside front wheel today - is that a big problem?
FM: The problem is that as we're running so little downforce, the car feels very light. We're braking very hard, reducing speed from about 360 km/h down to 120 km/h in quite a short time.
GC: How far away from the corner are you hitting the brakes.
FM: It's round about 120m away from the chicane. We get most of the braking done and then start to turn in, we get a bit of oversteer, release the lock and get back on to the throttle before the second part of the chicane.
GC: The first race I ever saw you in was for Euro F3000, here back in 2001 which you won quite comfortably. Can you remember where you were braking in those cars?
FM: It's not that different really, probably around 150m but the big difference is the speed that you reach on the straight in an F1 car.
GC: When you're talking to your engineer, do you split all corners into three sections, even tight ones like the chicane?
FM: Yes, we talk about braking and entry, mid-corner and exit. At the first chicane we turn less under braking than we do, for example at the Lesmo, where as we add more lock we increasingly come off the brakes. Then on the exit we're on the throttle as we're reducing lock. At the first chicane, you need to get the car straight before applying the power.
GC: But aren't the sectors in a corner like that very short?
FM: Yes, but as you get more experienced in driving an F1 car you become more able to describe the difference. It's quite easy to say whether the car is oversteering on entry, understeering mid-turn and then not having enough traction on the exit for example.
GC: OK, after the chicane you're into the Curva Grande, which appears to be completely flat now?
FM: Yes, it's not a difficult corner.
GC: If they removed the chicane and added a large run-off area there, would it become an interesting corner again?
FM: No, I don't think so, not very. We're already doing 300km/h through the corner and without the chicane we'd probably be going only 50km/h faster so it wouldn't be too hard.
GC: And then again it's hard on the brakes for the second chicane. Jacques looked to be very unstable there this morning (he spun once in the Sauber) is it a difficult corner to set the car up for?
FM: Yes, that's a very technical corner. You can't afford to get the first part of the corner wrong as you lose time through the second part and the run up to the Lesmos.
GC: With only one set of tyres for the race now, how do you work out where the braking points change over a race distance?
FM: Actually, the tyres don't degrade that much. The tyre manufacturers - and here I have to say the tyre manufacturers in general - have done a great job. When you think about the regulation changes, they were pretty big last year, and already we're faster than last year.
GC: OK Let's carry on up to the Lesmo corners. The two are quite different since the second one was tightened a few years ago, aren't they?.
FM: The first is a normal corner, quite long radius, and the second is tighter, more of a 90 degree corner and we use quite a lot of kerb on the exit.
GC: Quite a lot of people seem to be using the gravel as well as the kerb today.
FM: Well the problem is if you touch the kerb on the inside of the corner, it throws you towards the outside and on to the gravel.
GC: And I imagine you really don't want to lose speed before the long run down to Ascari. That's the corner where I thought traction control seemed to be very important. The McLarens in particular sounded like they were on full throttle with the TC cutting in all the way through the second part of the chicane and then flat for the third section.
FM: It's another technical corner, brake late, go for the inside kerb - if you get it right the rest of the corner is pretty straightforward.
GC: How do you go about setting the traction control, is it something you have to adjust for each corner while you're driving?
FM: It's adjustable corner by corner, and we also have a variable switch on the steering wheel to change the overall level. So during a test we work out a setting for each corner and then I can adjust it if I need to.
GC: After the next straight you come to the last corner, the Parabolica, which is one of the most famous corners in motor racing. How do you approach it?
FM: I brake late, after 100m, and attack the entry, bringing as much speed as possible through the first part of the corner and get back on the throttle as soon as I can. It's a very nice corner to do.
GC: In a car like a Formula Renault, there are only a limited number of things to change, springs roll-bars, dampers and the two wings. In F1 it's much more complicated, so how do you deal with the problem of knowing which changes work and which ones don't?
FM: With F1 the aero is a lot more important, GP2 would be the only other cars that are at all similar. We basically have three areas to change: aero, mechanical, and electronics. Like the traction control, We can adjust for the traction control, engine braking and the differential.
GC You can control the engine braking?
FM: Yes these engines are capable of locking the rear wheels, so we adjust it so that it's not a problem; it's a very intelligent system.
GC: So that's in addition to the normal Front/Rear brake bias adjustment?
FM: Exactly.
GC: Do you get involved with the changes that are made to the car, or do you just let your engineer decide what to change and concentrate on driving?
FM: No, I like to discuss changes and make suggestions, for example if I have a problem with traction I might suggest softer rear springs and then we discuss it. As you work more together you develop a good relationship and usually we will both come up with similar ideas.
GC: Finally, a bit of an off-the-wall question, just to give readers an idea what you like outside of motor racing - do you have a favourite film?
FM: I like to watch films yes, but what I really like is 24. The fourth series is out now so I'm looking forward to seeing that.
GC: Thank you very much Felipe.