Massa engine blow gives Schumi a scare

Brazilian gets a 10-place penalty for engine change

SHANGHAI: Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher had a scare on Friday when teammate Felipe Massa suffered an engine failure in practice for Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix. However, Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn sounded optimistic that the German was in no danger of a similar setback. Brawn said Ferrari were partly stripping Massa’s engine to get a clearer picture of the problem although first impressions were positive.

“We need to understand it, because it’s an engine specification that we’ve run a lot of and not had a problem,” he said. “There’s a chance that the failure could be caused by something dropping into the inlets. So if that is the case then we shouldn’t have concerns.”

Schumacher is yet to score a point in China after two visits to the Shanghai circuit.  Sunday’s race will be his last chance before retirement at the end of the season. Massa’s problem will cost the Brazilian 10 places on the starting grid, denting the team’s hopes of stretching their three point lead over champions Renault in the constructors’ standings.

“Of course dropping 10 places on the grid will make my race much tougher, but I believe I can still put in a good performance,” the Brazilian said.