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“I haven’t seen another solution that works” – Masi on cleaning oil on track

“I haven’t seen another solution that works” – Masi on cleaning oil on track

08-08-2019 14:29

Bevan Youl

Formula 1 race director Michael Masi has said that there still isn’t another way of soaking up oil on a track than the current way of using cement dust.

Before FP3 on Saturday at the Hungarian Grand Prix an oil slick had been left on track after the Formula 2 race and the cement dust was used by track workers to clear the oil but was still there at the start of the practice session, in which drivers would go over.
 
But Masi insists that there still isn’t an alternative to using the cement dust as the solution works well.
 
He said to Motorsport.com: "At the current point it is a fantastic solution and works really well, particularly when you have got the big brushes pounding in the bitumen, it just works.
 
"It is something that is used the world over and has been done for a very long time. At this point I haven't seen another solution that works.

"We knew the first couple of laps were going to be a bit dusty, as we saw on TV, but after that, the other way that I learned many years ago is that as soon as you get cars running over the top of it, it is the best solution and we saw that quite clearly.

"Lewis Hamilton's lap was two seconds or so faster than the day before."

TV pictures of the clean up on the track showed Masi looking a bit concerned about the clean-up but he states that he wanted the issue resolved as quickly as possible to ensure that FP3 could go ahead.
 
"There was probably a car's width of an oil slick from the entry, all the way through and then on the kerb and everything else,” he added.

"It was not a small one to clean and that is why I was more animated in terms of getting as many resources there as possible to deal with it.

"I wanted to ensure with the circuit there was a sufficient amount of kitty litter and oil soak there, and getting effectively extra in until we were happy that the surface was as good as it was going to be.”