Hispania pit mechanic got hit by F1 car and survives

An accident occurred in the pit lane during yesterday’s Italian GP in Monza. The incident involved the Hispania racing team and it occurred when driver Sakon Yamamoto dived into the pits for a scheduled pit stop. Everything looked perfect for the team when the Japanese driver stopped in his pit box but things turned ugly after the tire change was completed.

The ever-so-important lollipop man gave the clear signal to the driver but at the same time there was a mechanic who was adjusting Yamamoto’s radio. He was standing in front of the rear right wheel. Given the clear signal the driver just accelerated away leaving the mechanic in harms way.

The mechanic got hit by the rear wheel and was pushed further to the left. He landed on the ground right away and the rest of the crew rushed towards him soon after. The race stewards then temporarily closed the pit lane to make way for a safe extraction.

According to another Hispania driver, Karun Chandhok the German mechanic named Marcel was rushed to the medical centre and thankfully he is stable at this point of time. Marcel who never lost consciousness is now awaiting more scans. Everyone knows motor sport in general is dangerous which is why there are countless rules and regulations in regards to safety.

However we have seen a number of accidents in the pits and something should be done to stop this. The Hispania outfit could receive a penalty from the FIA over this incident.

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Harvinder Sidhu

Harvinder Singh Sidhu thinks there's nothing better than Formula 1, not even sliced bread. Having written about cars since 2006, he plunged head first into the industry out of a passion for all things four-wheeled and everything in between. The F1 enthusiast has been following the sport since 1999 and has been keeping up with it since. In between races he keeps himself busy as the host of the Driven motoring show and as our version of the Joker.

 

Comments

  • wahedenator on Sep 13, 2010 at 11:34 am

    walao . .
    scary man !

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  • RH PumpKinKing on Sep 13, 2010 at 12:08 pm

    Ouch.. that gonna hurts… hit by a force which can lift a 747…

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  • Alanore Chong on Sep 13, 2010 at 12:49 pm

    This is a real nasty mistake, hope he get well soon.

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  • Hayden on Sep 13, 2010 at 1:40 pm

    owh god..that was really hard. = (

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  • dukeKTM on Sep 13, 2010 at 5:38 pm

    The video is blocked..??? T T

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  • mata katak on Sep 13, 2010 at 7:36 pm

    too fast, too furious……

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  • paddockbox on Sep 13, 2010 at 8:31 pm

    HRT has been fined $20,000 for that pit lane incident

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  • steven on Sep 14, 2010 at 11:30 pm

    guyz it wuz a mistake plain asnd simple…human error to be correct..we can be super dupers safe with correct procedure,SOP n stuff but if human[us] are involved a mistakes is due to happen..may be 1 in 100 but it will happen..wat ya gona do fullly automate the pitting why stop there automate racing as well after shoya’s acciden in motogp….thats y UAX r the inthing now bcz the safty and human factors are removed…..u want the trhrill improve it dun change it!!

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  • Fernando. on Sep 16, 2010 at 4:59 am

    “However we have seen a number of accidents in the pits and something should be done to stop this.”

    You said it yourself. Motor racing is DANGEROUS! Each and every member of the team, pit crew included, know something could go wrong that they have NO control over and they could DIE from the accident. They all know this, they all accept this.

    Don’t change what doesn’t need changing.

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  • Steven on Sep 16, 2010 at 11:01 am

    I agree with you fernando, making it safer in terms of providing more training[they already do over 1000 pit stop practices as a minimum requirement but other than that like a friends suggested designing an electrical aid which only allows the car to leave once all are clear of the car[i personally think its ridiculous because you lose the human factor here again.

    For me racing is a mans way of pushing his/her limits be it an engineer, pilot, manager etc. It is very difficult, stressful and not to mention a home breaker in some cases because of the amount of hours one needs sometimes to get the job done. What i am trying to say is we should be in at least 80-90% in control. Thats why we do it, to test ourselves to d MAX and succeed at it, if you cant you leave!!

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