The pit lane incident at last weekend’s German Grand Prix
involving an FOM cameraman and a stray Pirelli tyre has sparked changes in pit
lane etiquette to be made.
The new rulings were announced by Bernie Ecclestone and the FIA respectively and will
help to prevent similar incidents from occurring. The pit lane is a dangerous
and crowded place and with more and more cars being released unsafely from
their pit box, it was unfortunately inevitable that something like this would
happen.
Teams are constantly chasing the fastest pit stop time. The
current record stands at 2.05 seconds and was set by Red Bull Racing. However
with the chase for the fastest pit stop comes errors and we have seen a lot of
them this season alone, whether that be loose wheels or unsafe releases in a
bid to not lose time.
Mark Webber entered the pit lane at the German Grand Prix
for his first pit stop. However when he left the box a few seconds later it was
without his right-rear wheel after a problem in his stop. Despite the wheel not
being attached, the Aussie was still told to go by the traffic light style
system used by Red Bull instead of a lollipop like they used a few years ago.
His stray wheel travelled down the slightly downhill pit
lane, narrowly avoiding the Lotus pit crew before striking FOM cameraman Paul
Allen. The Brit had turned his back after filming his piece and despite a few
shouts from the Lotus crew; he could not avoid the released tyre. It was a
horrible incident and I'm thankful that the TV crews didn't play it in respect
for the injured man.
Red Bull were fined £26,800 for the incident and Force India
were also fined £4,300 for releasing DI Resta into the path of Vergne.
Bernie Ecclestone revealed that cameramen must now be
positioned on the pit wall, alongside the six photographers who are restricted
to that position as well.
He said: "I've been in close contact with everybody who
has been dealing with the matter.
"It's a terrible thing to say, but it was just one of
those things. There was a whole bunch of mechanics and the tyre could have hit
any one of those guys.
"The cameraman just happened to be looking the wrong
way at the wrong time. In future, all our camera crews will only be allowed to
film from the pit wall."
There are six FOM crews allowed in the pit lane which makes
the space quite crowded when a stop does take place.
Ross Brawn has said that it may be best for everyone in the
pit lane to wear protective headgear, something that all team members in the
pit lane must do in 2014 - a new sporting regulation for next year.
The Mercedes Team Principal said: "On the basis of what
we have seen we should be thinking that all people in the pit lane are properly
dressed and equipped. Everyone in the pit lane should have a helmet on. It is
certainly worth reviewing the whole thing."
The FIA did make an announcement that two regulations would be fast tracked from the 2014 changes. These will be put in place for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The two rules that will be brought forward are that all pit crew members must wear helmets during a pit stop and the second is that the speed limit will be reduced from 100km/h to 80km/h at all events other than Melbourne, Monaco and Singapore which will stay at 60km/h.
There will also be a ban on anyone other than marshals and team personnel in the pit lane during the race and qualifying sessions.
There will also be a ban on anyone other than marshals and team personnel in the pit lane during the race and qualifying sessions.
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(c) Reuters |
I think that moving the cameramen to the pit wall is the
right thing to do in order to keep them safe and prevent another incident from
happening. I'm frankly surprised that it has taken this long for something like
this to happen; we have so many incidents where cars wheels are not properly
attached.
I also agree with Brawn's statement that everyone in the pit
lane should be dressed in protective gear like helmets. It's the right thing to
do even if incidents are rare because they could happen and it’s so
unpredictable. Perhaps people in garages and pit lane reporters should also
wear fireproof overalls like in the USA. We saw last season that fires can
occur in the pits and it’s all in the name of safety even if something like
that never happens again.
Pit safety is something that needs drastically changing and
this incident is just the start. I saw a suggestion from Will Buxton that
cameramen should have a spotter, almost a second pair of eyes to help guide
them and steer them from any danger alongside letting them know which cars are
in the pits. Whilst I agree with him in the principal of the idea - if Paul
Allen had a spotter he would have dodged the tyre - but that would bring more
people into the already busy pit lane.
Something I did think about initially was a warning sound
that could be triggered by a pit crew should a wheel fall off or something
dangerous happen, alerting those also in the pit lane that something has
happened and they should be wary and watch out.
The
changes outlined above by the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone is a good step
and I think that head protection is extremely important in the pit lane.
It's great to see such a quick reaction and rules being brought
forward. However, would it have helped in the situation that we saw at
the Nurburgring? No. It's great for overall safety but the problem is
the wheel itself.
The main priority is to not let the wheel become
detached from the car in the first place. That is what will make the pits a
safer place. Pirelli tyres weigh 12kg and being hit by one of them could prove
to be fatal. The injured cameraman was fortunately hit at a lower speed and
only suffered a broken collarbone and two broken ribs but it could have been a
lot worse and how could that have been avoided? Quite simply, if Webber had
re-joined the race with all four wheels in place in the first place.
It comes down to one thing, faster stops cause more errors.
Pit equipment is still not 100% reliable and problems can occur all the time
whether that is with the front or rear jacks, any of the wheel guns or an issue
with the system releasing the car. The latter is perhaps the most questionable
as Webber was told to leave the pits despite the wheel not being properly
fitted to his car, so why did it show him the green light to go?
Teams are always searching to minimise time and the traffic
light system has proved to be troublesome since its inception. When a corner of
the car is done, one of the three people servicing that corner taps a button
confirming it is completed. Someone obviously touched the button confirming
that the wheel was attached when it in fact wasn't, therefore triggering the
traffic light system to go green.
I'm not passing the blame but to raise the bar in pit lane
safety, teams have to stop releasing cars in an unsafe manner. There was an
incident with Paul Di Resta at his first stop whereby he was released into the
path of Jean-Eric Vergne. Had the Scot had too much wheel spin or not looked in
his mirrors enough they could have collided and put even more people in danger.
Likewise Vergne had to stamp on the brakes to reach his pit box but that could
have put him out of line and doing that can cause contact with pit crew. It can just be a human error but even if a mistake is made, it should still be corrected before the car leaves the box.
It's a tricky subject, the pit lane. Teams are always
searching to get their cars serviced in the quickest time possible but I think
we have to think about how teams can do this without making the errors. Perhaps
the traffic light system needs analysing, or teams need to stop chasing records
and start making sure all four wheels are on the wagon as that can bring them
more time than having to retrieve a three wheeled car, push it back to the box
and complete the stop.
Thankfully the camera crew will be out of the way of any
loose wheels from now on but it has sparked a thought for me as to how the
sport can make the pit lane safer. Steps are already being made but more needs
to be done in my view, the incidents may be rare but they could be very costly.
2 comments:
Well said! Safety is the number one priority.
Interesting article, but I'd like to bring up something. You talk about how equipment isn't 100% reliable and such, but there is a bigger underlying issue. No one in the right rear corner of the car gave a signal to say they were finished. The tyre remover was trying to knock the wheel off when they dropped him and he only just get his hands out of the way. This was equipment failure, it was communication failure
Red Bull needs to be held accountable fully for this, and whilst I'm a big fan, a $40k fine is laughable. It doesn't teach them anything.
I've thought also about slowing out stops etc, but let's face it, 1991 Spanish GP, the same thing happened to Mansell, except one of the crew gave a signal whilst the guy on the gun was still trying to tighten up the nut. From memory the tyre went through the Tyrrell put and knocked some of their guys over. Back then 5 seconds was quick... It will never be perfect unless they devise some torque signal from the nut to the cars clutch, but I'm sure even that could fail.
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