http://www.f1times.co.uk/news/display/07813

and now they say Hulkenberg terminated his contract. Yet he's likely to finish the season with them. Strange situation. Maybe he's hoping Webber does a Montoya and clears the path to replace him for the remainder of the season??

From the Hungarian Grand Prix onwards television crews working in the pit lane will only be permitted to stand on the pit wall, Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has announced. The safety move follows the dramatic events at the Nürburgring, when a cameraman was hit by a loose wheel from the Red Bull of Mark Webber.

During the first pit-stop phase, the Australian’s right-rear wheel was not fitted correctly before his release. The tyre then bounced down the pit lane and struck cameraman Paul Allen on the back; he was taken to the medical centre and later transported to hospital, where a broken collarbone, broken ribs and concussion were diagnosed.

"It's a terrible thing to say, but it was just one of those things," Ecclestone told Sky Sports. "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."

FOM has stated that the cameraman is due to make a full recovery from his injuries. Red Bull was given a fine of €30,000 (£25,834) for Webber’s unsafe release.

It always annoys me that, when something bad happens, decisions are made in a rush without proper thinking. It's a psychological heuristic: recently witnessed event is remembered well and mistakenly thought as often recurring.

It's been always clear for everyone that a wheel can get loose and hit the pit workers or cameramen. If that would be a safety issue, they never should have allowed anyone in the pit lane in the first place. But because probability for that to happen is nearly zero (the number of injuries of cameramen caused by a loose wheel / the number of pit stops in history of F1 = 0.00001?), it's not really a risk factor.

Also if the wheel wouldn't have become loose or hit anyone, cameramen would be allowed to work as always and no sensible being would question their safety.
Glad the wheel didn't hit team personnel, then they would have pit walls removed or covered completely. Sigh.

"We shouldn't be in this position in the sport but that's the way it is."

"I'm just saying in a sport everything should just be equal, you shouldn't be going to races like that. But that's the way it is."

Don't cheat, you won't get punished. Easy way to solve that problem eh.



Everything equal. Except for us, we want private tests.

Don't cheat, you won't get punished. Easy way to solve that problem eh.



Everything equal. Except for us, we want private tests.

So I just read this quote from Ross Brawn on F1 Live about the swapping of the tires around now outlawed
"The construction of the tyre has changed and I think the ability to swap tyres before was a good way of offsetting the stress of the tyre," Brawn was quoted by Autosport. "You could use it in qualifying and then swap it, and have it in a different condition for the race.

Umm isn't that breaking park ferme rules to gain a performance advantage as the car is not in the configiration it was in for qualifying?

A random question: Who is the man giving the caps and watches to the drivers before the podium and press conference? It has been the same guy since at least 2007, anyone knows how long he has been there?