Formula 1 2013 German Grand Prix - Sebastien Vettel Rings In Home Victory
The Big Picture The big picture for Formula 1 right now is safety. For the third race in a row, for various reasons, there have been significant incidents on race days, one resulting in injury and another with a tragic death. This weekend we saw a car rolling uncontrolled across the track on a high speed straight, and a loose wheel from Red Bull strike down world feed cameraman Paul Allen in the pit lane when he wasnt expecting it. This follows on from the huge tyre failures we saw at the British Grand Prix, and the tragic accident that killed a marshal in Canada as they cleared away a car after the race. Now, this weekends incidents arguably were somewhat bad luck, and not a particular failure of safety. Jules Bianchis Marussia blew up and then caught fire with him in it, unsurprisingly energising him to make a hasty exit. After the fire quickly went out, he replaced the steering wheel and it was at rest. The tractor was on the way to collect it when it started to roll away down the hill by itself, when it had been at rest and so was no particular mistake by anyone. Also, what can Bianchi do about it? At best he could have turned the steering, like you might if you parked on a hill and were worried about your handbrake. So that was just a bit of an unfortunate incident, and luckily nothing worse came out of it as it rolled onto the grass the other side. It may however prompt new protocol that drivers have to make sure they turn the wheels if they stop on any sort of slope. With Mark Webbers unsafe release however, that is clearly outlined in the regulations. The rear right wheel was not on properly, and yet the green light was given to Webber to go, causing him to drop the clutch and accelerate away, catapulting the loose wheel down the pits. The Lotus mechanics managed to dodge it, but poor Paul Allen was facing the other way, quietly doing his job, when the wheel clipped something (quite likely a wheel gun) and flew into the air, hitting him in the back and hurling him to the ground. He was treated rapidly at the scene by mechanics and track doctors, then flown to hospital where he was put under observation and is understood to have suffered a broken collarbone and ribs. Now, there is a certain degree of bad luck in this, and wheels escape now and then with few consequences usually, but the wheel is no lightweight and cars do up to 60mph down pit lane, making it a significant projectile. The pit lane is a busy place, with people like Allen required so we get the coverage of the sport we love, but none of them should be in danger. Systems should not allow a car to be released when it is unfit to race, and this is a clear case of the Red Bull traffic light system indicating that Mark Webber, unable to see whats going on, should go. He drops the clutch and it all unfolds. Im not entirely sure if the system is automated or manually controlled, but either way there needs to be another look into it. This is not the first time that cars have been released unsafely, and it wont be the last of course. But as a result of this, someone has been injured, someone who was again peripheral to the action. Safety has to remain a primary focus of Formula 1, and nobody disagrees with that. It may be a smart move to say that all people in the pit lane area need to wear protective clothing, but it is smarter to eliminate the possibility of such incidents happening at all. We just want to enjoy racing after all, and whilst Red Bull were fined 30,000 for the unsafe release, it doesnt undo whats been done. To close this, I wish Paul a speedy recovery. The Small Picture The small picture is that in a hot race, Mercedes tyre degradation problems came back to haunt them. With a bright weekend in Germany, track temperatures pushed towards the high 40s in centigrade, and the track came back to lighter teams like Lotus, but took the edge off Red Bull a little and a lot off Mercedes. Hamilton quickly slipped backwards in the race as he struggled with tyres, commenting they werent on the same kind as him, and Rosberg struggled to make much impression on the cars ahead as they both struggled to make the Pirellis last in the heat. People have made much of the illegal testing conducted with Pirelli that we finally settled a couple of weeks ago, and with their performance at Monaco and then in Britain, a lot of people have said they have clearly gained a step forward by testing for 1000km in Spain. Now, they clearly have gained in places, but this weekend showed they havent overcome the fundamental causes of the problem despite lots of hard work. With the cars struggling and plenty of potentially hot races to come, its something that could dent their championship hopes after making up good ground on Red Bull, overtaking Ferrari for second. From Behind the Glasses I wasnt sure what to expect from the Nurburgring this weekend, especially after such a thrilling race at Silverstone last time out just seven days ago. Whilst the result didnt go my way today, with Vettel again winning from the front the only way he seems to be able to, I still enjoyed it as Lotus surged forward and put the pressure on. There was a mix up down the field too, with McLaren finding speed theyve lacked for races, and Hulkenberg racing hard to get into the points again. Felipe Massa spinning out was disappointing after he looked so racy, as was the problem that took Webber out of contention when he seems to be very involved now he has little to lose given hell be leaving come seasons end. It was nice to see no problems with the tyres, but with them still degrading as they were supposed to, meaning the advantage has not been handed directly to certain teams unfairly. Hopefully now the whole thing can be put to bed and we can focus on the season. With Alonso and Raikkonen scoring good points, the championship is still simmering and hopefully it means it can remain a race to the end rather than being wrapped up dominantly. It was a shame Hamilton couldnt win the race today to be part of a great weekend of British sport though.