Singapore held her very first Formula 1 (F1) race exactly one week ago from 26th September to 28th September 2008. It was certainly quite an event. It sprung many surprises, that left the spectators wanting more...
Here's a little summary of the interesting event that happened that night: (Please don't mind the language, I couldn't find a proper english one..)
What you have just witnessed from the three video clips really DID happen, and as you can see, Felipe Massa of Ferrari, the very man whom every one thought would emerge champion came in 13th place.
The saddest part of the whole thing was, it was not exactly his fault. You see, behind every F1 driver's success is their mechanical crew. They as one united team are expected to work together very quickly (5-10 seconds), for a successful change and hopefully, victory in every race. You didn't know that? Well, just let me tell you more about how the pit works then.
In every race, the entire crew are basically racing against time together. The pit members each have their specialised roles in which they know full well of, had much practice, and are well aware of. However, even with much practice, it requires a lot of awareness and sensitivity to one another in order that the time taken to change tires, refill the petrol tank, check other parts of the car, etc, is minimized; so that the team can have hopes of emerging as champions.
What you witnessed in the videos posted shows how the Ferrari mechanic team failed to communicate clearly, and failed miserably in their race. The man who was still refilling his tank was not ready to let him go, but the go ahead sign was given by the in charge, and off Massa went, sending his team mate flying to mid-air for a couple of seconds; and his car, stuck with the petrol pump-tube. This led to the entire crew's shock and disbelief at their failure, and it took them seconds to realise what had happened before they dashed towards Massa who had to stop to wait for them to remove the stuck pump-tube.
Classic moments of miscommunication we were able to witness, and learn from; and hopefully Ferrari and the other teams can learn from the grave mistake which led to Massa, who was slated to win and dominate the race, coming in almost the last in the entire race. Perhaps the Ferrari team and work on communication cues and even have exercises that practice their awareness; or perhaps, just hang out more outside of training to build up even more rapport, so that everyone can understand each other without saying a word, sort of like having a connection that doesn't need words or actions - these would definitely have helped the Ferrari team.
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14 comments:
This is a horrible thing that has happened, and it is because of miscommunication that arises in their group. I bet he is killing himself over this.
Spending more time together could be one way to reduce miscommunication since it improves group bonding, but other ways could be being more alert to your own groupmate's needs, and not to give misleading non-verbal cues. Of course, these methods might not work perfectly. There could be other reasons for the miscommunication. Perhaps everyone is really nervous for the big race, due to them having to live up to a great expecation.
Whatever the reason is, this is such a pity. Massa could have won the race.
this was a very unfortunate incident. however, either a technical glitch or human error was more to blame in my opinion. as you can see, massa was given the green light and thus he sped off.
regardless, communication is definitely a crucial factor in such a competitive sport where every second, and even minis of them count. they used to have a lollipop man to give the go ahead but for some reason ferrari went without him. sometimes we just rely too much on technology.
rapport, too, will no doubt strengthen the bond and understanding of the non verbal cues. with practice, i am sure the team won't make the mistake again.
from your blog we can see that miscommunications happen even in the professional world.i guess that this is inevitable although they are supposed to PRO and remove all these mistakes. but the world is always changing and there is not way we can control anything in the world. just a small jerk or movement can change the meaning of something to another person. such things usually cause misunderstanding but i guess we need to help learn more about each other.
i am also suprised at the outcome of the evenings events. this just goes to show that for group synergy to work, each individual member in the ream must be proficient in their individual task, for it is the sum of their skills that make up this synergy!
it's quite sad for Massa, for he did well in the qualifying rounds. i got a shock when a turned on the TV for the final 10 laps to see the Prancing Horse at the bottom of the table.
we certainly need to learn more in terms of communication. there's so much to learn, not in terms of studying it, but more importantly practicing it. I think by practicing it, only can we learn the ways to communicate, because different people have different ways of communicating with one another..
i think that this was a very unfortunate incident, which led to massa being the last few to complete the race. from this, we can see how communication is an important factor, so as to avoid miscommunication.
massa's team was "oblivious" to the hose which was still attached to the car and the overall in-charge gave him the green light. negligence is probably the key area here. also, they were slow to react in a sense that they took a long time to reach massa's car where the hose was stuck even though they probably knew that the hose was still attached because one of the team member was flung in to the air for a few seconds. they even took a slow jog to his car to remove the hose. during that time frame, many cars would have overtaken massa and thus led to his finish in almost the last place.
however, whatever has happened, has happened. and we can't change it. but we can learn from it. as letitia said, we need to learn more in communications, so as to minimise the chances of mistakes taking place.
i feel sad for massa. poor dude.
haha i think it was just a careless mistake since they were all rushing like mad. anyway doesnt matter now that ferrari didnt win haha
What happened in the pit with Massa is just one of those times where you can blame Murphy for coming up with that stupid law...
Most of us would gladly walk up to Hamilton and shoot him in the head for being stupid/blind in Canada, when he hit the back of Kimi Raikkonen's stationary car in the pit. Later on causing Nico Rosberg to crash into him.
What actually happens is that the lollipop guy would flip the lollipop to tell the driver "1st gear" when all the tires are in place and waiting for the fuel. Upon refueling is done, the mechanics take a split second to remove the nozzle and the lollipop guy lifts the lollipop.
In Massa's case the fuel nozzle got stuck and couldn't be removed. Nothing much could have been done, the lollipop guy probably anticipated the fuel nozzle was going to function normally and released, Massa, having realised that the world Championship was at stake (which he eventually lost by 1 point), wasn't aware that the fuel nozzle was still inside.
Every year there are about 3-4 incidents where the driver moves off before the nozzle comes out.
Based on this incident, Massa and his team learnt an important lesson which definately served as a reminder to the rest of the F1 teams that communication between one another is very crucial. Even a minor mistake of "Red" and "Green" can prove to be disastrous!
I wonder what measures will Ferrari take after they made this huge mistake since they are the only ones that are using the digital signals at the pitstop...
Lesson learnt! Never rely too much on computer techologies. Personally I prefer human signals as the latter proves to be more trustworthy!
it shows that technology can fail at the time we need it the most.
OOOOOO.. this i can comment, cos i was there..
OKOK.. what exactly happen was that it was quite tense between the top 3 in the first few laps until stupid nelson piquet crashed his car in front of where i was sitting. it was damn cool man. then the most sexiest car came out-the safety car. Merc M66..OH MY GOSH.. haha.
okok. so while safety car is out, the drivers cannot over take, there fore they can go into the pits to refuel and do watever they need to do..
this was wat happen, that day itself ferrari wanted to try out the new system which was the light system. How does the light system work?? it works like this. the petrol pump is the one that control the red light from turing green. when the fuel is being pump in, and the moment the ppl detach it , the light will turn to green and the driver will go. but somehow there was a technical problem where before the guy could pull out the fuel pump, the light turn green. i was told that the light turn from red to green then back to red again after massa left.
by doin that , he cause the fuel pump to go along with him. and it was the first time they used this system only them.. i do not know wat ferrari was thinking , but that problem really cause them the race.
thank God that guy who got pulled down didnt suffer any injuries...
BUt i still love ferrari..
haha..
I LOVE FERRARI, TOO!
I think the crew was partly responsible for the screw up of the Ferrari team, not to mention the novelty of the first night race ever must've contributed to their nerves. Nevertheless, they should learn from this experience and pray that such a mistake isn't committed again because goodness, my heart stopped when one of the crew members skidded along with the Ferrari!
wow that's really interesting Gab! thanks for sharing your info with us, we've certainly learn loads about how this F1 works!
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