Having replaced Fernando Alonso in the F150's cockpit for the remainder of the Valencia test, the Brazilian was hoping to become more acquainted with the new car, since today is the last day of running on the Spanish circuit.
However, disaster struck only half an hour into the morning session, when Massa wrongly approached Turn 5 of the Cheste circuit and halted his car on the track facing the wrong way. In a matter of seconds, smoke started to pour out from the rear of his F150, causing the Brazilian to exit the cockpit immediately and wait for some help from the circuit's marshals.
The marshals arrived at the scene immediately with extinguishers and managed to put out the fire, but Massa's car will need some serious repair work before it leaves the track for some mileage. Until this time, it is yet unknown whether the Ferrari mechanics will repair the damages in time for Massa to still catch some track time later today.
“It was an hot start for Felipe,” sounded Ferrari's post on Tweeter. “His car had a small fire due to an oil leak so it will be necessary to work at length to repair it.” Later on, Ferrari said on theie media website that there will certainly be no return for the F150 until at least 3 PM.
During the first two days of testing in Valencia, Fernando Alonso had scored the best time of the day on Wednesday, after having finished second to Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel on Day 1. In case Massa won't have a shot at returning to the track today, his next track time inside the F150 cockpit will be next week, at Jerez.
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