http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/23249596

knee jerk.

Do we need cameras that close? It’s a relatively recent development and a camera from the pitwall will do largely the same job

yes a jerk of the knee

Ban the loose tyres no?

Health & Safety … ban F1 coverage … 😆

Absolutely the cameraman’s fault for being where he would be knocked flat by a wheel that a highly-trained professional had failed to tighten up properly.
Perhaps they should ban all personnel from the pit lane in case of further incidents.
Oh, wait…

First time something interesting happens, they ban it… 🙂
Glad the dude is alright though but they could easily mount cameras on fixed positions.

i agree with them, last thing you need in a pit lane where all your concentration and senses are required is someone walking around looking into a camera with headphones on listening to his producer.

Not blaming the cameraman he was doing his job in a dangerous place and glad hes ok

I think Christian Horner put it quite well when he said something along the lines of all the pit crew wearing flame retardant suits, helmets, etc. but there being no requirement for the press to do the same. Maybe it’s just a case of training and proper PPE for camera crew there, possibly along with a restriction on camera size to aid mobility.

how many people who do a dangerous and high pressure job would welcome a cameraman not wearing any protective gear, carrying a bulky camera, with massively reduced sense of what is going on around him because he/she is looking down a camera with a headset on? It puts other people around them in danger as they may not be able to get out of the way or may feel the need to protect the person.

Yes it’s a sport and thus needs to be recorded but fully agree that they can easily get the coverage, or even better coverage, with fixed position pan/tilt/zoom cameras and a camera on a zip line whizzing down the pits.

They would then be able to catch more action and get shots a cameraman cannot.

Or maybe kit out one or two of the pit crews from each team with head mounted cameras and take footage from those?

Good idea. You could tell when it happened that all the mechanics knew of the potential dangers as they were watching the car and reacted immediately as soon as the tyre broke free. Several got out of the way sharpish then it hit the cameraman who maybe wasn’t as aware of the dangers or was concentrating on his equipment/next shot etc.

I don’t think it’s anyone’s fault as such. In fact its great that lessons can be learnt from this and things changed BEFORE someone is seriously injured. With overhead cameras, headcams, boom cameras available theres no need for them to be in the pit lane now we can see the problem clearly and can do something about it.

The 2 most interesting developments in F1 lately are random blowouts, and cameramen getting hit with wheels. This is to be encouraged- forget banning them from the pits, we should have 10 times more in there. Let’s have some on the track. Blindfolded. And covered in drawing pins to encourage more blowouts.

It makes sense, I think the best pit shots are the overhead ones anyway, the rest can easily be done from the pit wall.

Gary Anderson made a good suggestion on his BBC column, there are currently around 20 people on the car in a pit stop, so you can’t see much anyhow, he’s suggested limiting the number of people who work on the car to get 2 wheels changed at a time, this allows people to see what’s going on more, slows the stop down by about 1.5 seconds and gives the lollipop man more time to check it’s all done and make a decision on the release.

Have they released the footage from his camera yet?

Wouldn’t it be much simpler to ban tyre changing again?

Make a tyre that can actually Last a race, it was done before it should be done again.

Blimey, blame the guy who was hurt? If there was a pit stop going on a mechanic could’ve had that wheel in the head.

Would force them to have to race and pass on track. Unless they engineer regular punctures and the fresh tyres (same compound) give them enough better performance to more than make up the lost time.

Cutting down on number of guys n the pitlane kinda makes sense. There are an awful lot, compared with other race formulas. Other options are halve the number of guys doing wheel changes – get away from these 2s stops

Not blaming the cameraman at all, just acknowledging that the pit lane is a risky environment, and minimising the risk to people who don’t need to be there. As said above, overhead and pit wall shots are fine.

Anderson’s idea is a logical extension of this.

They should start giving proper penalties for unsafe releases. 20 CC points for example. £30k is pocket change to Red Bull.

I think Christian Horner put it quite well when he said something along the lines of all the pit crew wearing flame retardant suits, helmets, etc. but there being no requirement for the press to do the same.

Those comments coming from Horner are irritating to me. Your team **** up, where’s your apology? Arsehole!

Gary Anderson as always seems to be talking sense.

why don’t they just use camera’s on a rail like they did with the sprinting at the olympics, when the car leaves the pit lane the camera can race the car, now that would look good….

These pit cameramen don’t do much anyway…

No drama in this picture. Except for the anticipation and discipline with superb lighting and depth. Whether F1 floats your boat or not, that’s sports photography.

Should deffo go back to no routine tyre changes, current racing is a joke. If they get a puncture they should have the option of using a can of tyre weld like in my S-Max or a space saver spare, carried under the drivers seat, and limited to 30% of the car’s top speed.

Retro have you read the fuller text of Horners comments? Where he says the team need find out what went wrong, how horrific it must have been for Paul Allen’s family to see it? In context with the rest of what he said he’s making a reasonable comment about health and safety. It is a farce when the mechanics are so well kitted but its deemed reasonable for someone to be stood next to them in shirt sleeves.

New Rule needed: If a team releases a car with an insecure wheel the car is immediately black flaged, the sister car has 60 second stop go without passing the pits and both cars start from the back of the grid for the next race.

and a 50,000 euro fine

This is to be encouraged- forget banning them from the pits, we should have 10 times more in there. Let’s have some on the track. Blindfolded. And covered in drawing pins to encourage more blowouts.

But the points of the drawing pins would be pointing into the cameraman, unless you propose gluing the pins on which would be ridiculous.

You, sir, obviously know nothing about motor racing or stationery.

True. But I am a semi-competent machinist, so double-ended drawing pins could be provided- which would be both easier to fit, and more amusing.

crashtestmonkey – Member

Retro have you read the fuller text of Horners comments? Where he says the team need find out what went wrong, how horrific it must have been for Paul Allen’s family to see it? In context with the rest of what he said he’s making a reasonable comment about health and safety. It is a farce when the mechanics are so well kitted but its deemed reasonable for someone to be stood next to them in shirt sleeves.

Would a helmet and fire overalls have made any difference to this incident? No.

Do you have a link to the full text?
The interview I saw him make the comments in was on Sky F1 and his tone gave the impression to me that he was deflecting blame. Maybe I read too much into it, as I have long thought that he is a helmet.

Blimey, blame the guy who was hurt?

1st rule of accident prevention, don’t be there when it happens!

So not blameing the cameraman, but someone somewhere did a risk assessment of his job and decided that the job was more important than the risks identified.

“Retro have you read the fuller text of Horners comments? Where he says the team need find out what went wrong”

Really ? they need to find out! i’ll help them they wheel didn’t go on correctly and the lollipop man released the car whilst they were still working on the wheel. i spotted all that as it happen.

rule change
6 men per pit stop – 2 on the jacks. 2 per side. 20 second minimum stop.

Min 1 stop per race.

i agree with a min time period for the stop, would greatly reduce the risk of a wheel flying off into other pit crew/cameramen/the crowd.
it works in other formulas.
i would also do away with:
1 lines which externally identify which compound tyre a car is using.
2 defined zones for DRS.
3 allowing the cars to start with fully charged KERS systems, it’s supposed to be kinetic energy RECOVERY system.
4 that **** who comentates on bbc beside david coulthard, he is hard to listen to.
5 limits to the maximum amount of fuel a car can carry, it should be up to a team whether they want to carry extra fuel, they will pay the price in extra weight.
6 tyres from only one manufacturer, competition is good and racing improves the breed.
7 and ffs, make the wings (a lot) smaller, then there will be more overtaking, look at touring cars for inspiration.
glad the cameraman was ok, but really, who decided it was a safe place for him to be, i agree a zipwire cam would be much better.

The best solution is to ban pit stops because they ruin the racing.

None of the purest forms of motorsport have pitstops and they don’t add anything to the spectacle. Moto GP is one of the most highly regarded racing series and that’s because to finish first you have to actually overtake the guy in front. This would see an opportunity to end the farces that are “the overaking button” and “the DRS zone” which combined with compulsory tyre stops and refuelling have caused F1 to become a bit of a joke of late.

Actually thinking about it just ban Bernie, that’d sort a considerable chunk of the whole damn mess out. Then again if that happened it’d be run by some faceless corporation and would truly descend into the mire.

True. But I am a semi-competent machinist, so double-ended drawing pins could be provided- which would be both easier to fit, and more amusing.

Much better!

…various ways to make F1 better…

It’s a hard line to walk, running F1. A true prototype class runs the risk of someone galloping off with everything and/or cars getting too fast for the track safety infrastructure, too many restrictions and you’re no longer the fastest series, then alongside that balance you have to try to make sure there’s plenty of exciting racing. Not sure how important the racing is, actually. Watching a rally car is exciting, and he’s only racing the clock.

But excitement is in the eye of the excitee. Some folk enjoy watching people cycle slowly along featureless tarmac for three weeks but consider downhill boring. Some people even like cricket!

Moto GP is one of the most highly regarded racing series and that’s because to finish first you have to actually overtake the guy in front.

Is it? I thought it was a tedious procession that we have to endure when WSBK isn’t on. At least Moto2 helps break the tedium.