Photos: Massa’s Ferrari F150 catches fire

3 February, 2011

Felipe Massa watches as a marshal douses the flames on the back of the Ferrari f150

Feb.3 (GMM) Felipe Massa on Thursday got his 2011 campaign off to a fiery start.

With only a chilly shakedown at Fiorano behind him, the Brazilian was a few laps into his proper test debut in the new F150 at Valencia when oil began to leak onto the exhausts.

Massa stopped at the side of the track but a fire broke out.

“It is unlikely that the car will be back on track much before 3 in the afternoon,” said the Italian team after assessing the damage.

Before completing the first two of the three test days in Spain, Fernando Alonso had been working on adjusting the F150′s setup to the difficult new Pirelli tyres.

“Felipe must now continue this work,” the Spaniard had stridently told his country’s reporters at Valencia late on Wednesday.

Ferrari reported:

Felipe Massa’s first test day with the F150 certainly did not get off to the kind of start he would have wanted. As he was coming to the end of his first run of laps, the Brazilian had to park at the side of the track, with an oil leak caused by a broken clamp.

Unfortunately the lubricant ended up on the exhausts which led to a small fire breaking out and that caused some damage to the car. The mechanics immediately set to work on repairing the damage, but it is unlikely that the car will be back on track much before 3 in the afternoon.

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