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Massa Reckons McLaren's F-Duct Makes Them Favorite in China

Ferrari's Felipe Massa reckoned that McLaren Mercedes will probably be the team to beat this weekend, on the Shanghai International Circuit in China. And that's because the F-duct system that they have been using for the past 3 races seems to provide the MP4-25 with sufficient advantage to overtake its rival cars in straight line.

The Chinese circuit features one of the longest main straights in Formula One, a section where cars can usually surpass the 300 km/h mark. As fast as they can move however, the MP4-25 will always be about 10 km/h quicker, thanks to the driver-controlled system that improves airflow around the car in straight line.

It's a nice circuit to drive and the extremely long straight leading into a tight corner means there is a real possibility to overtake. However, we will need to be careful on that straight this year, because we have seen that the McLaren in particular has a very high top speed, so in case of a close battle with them we will have to be careful and ready to defend position,” admitted Massa prior to this weekend's race, as reported by Autosport.

The British team were the first ones to introduce the controversial F-duct system this year. After the FIA ruled the system as legal in Bahrain, all the major teams – with the exception of Renault – started working on developing some similar systems of their own, given the benefits it would bring on track.

Ferrari's Stefano Domenicali confirmed his team is still developing their own F-duct mechanism, but insisted it will only be debuted on the Ferrari F10 once it will be 100 percent reliable.

For sure we are working flat out at home, because we saw the benefit that seems to be very, very big on the main straight in certain conditions – with the stalling of the rear wing. We will bring it as soon as everything will be reliable, and we will be 100 per cent sure that the system works,” said the Ferrari principal.
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