Felipe Massa has predicted that there will be many more pit stops in 2011, compared to previous seasons, after the Brazilian experienced high degredation in Barcelona.
It’s no secret that the Pirelli tyres are far less durable than Bridgestone’s – a feature which has been purposefully developed to add to the F1 show.
“It’s easy to predict there will be more pit stops compared to recent years,” said Massa. “Degradation is higher and it’s definitely not easy to look after the tyres.
“It’s true they give good grip, especially on the softer tyres, while the medium and hard are not so good in this respect, although their degradation is similar to the others,” he told Ferrari.com.
The 29-year-old believes this will contribute to ‘very different’ race strategies during the season.
“From what we have seen so far, it means the race strategies could be very different to previous seasons,” he added.
Meanwhile, Massa drew some conclusions from the past test, claiming Red Bull as the ones to beat, before adding that a couple of other teams couldn’t be written off.
“The Red Bull is definitely very quick and that’s a fact,” he said. “Today, we did a good lap time and I think we are not off the pace: however, yesterday Rosberg was quick for example and you definitely cannot rule out McLaren and some other teams.”
