Pit lane fires

As is often the case in motorsports, but especially in Formula One, in the constant pursuit of safety each accident is meticulously de-constructed to identify ways to mitigate risk. Whereas in the 1980's and 1990's the pit lane was one of the most dangerous places to be, with crowds of people, fast cars entering and leaving as quickly as possible, narrow lanes and gallons of highly flammable racing fuel everywhere, the pit lane of today is exponentially calmer and safer.

It took quite some incidents, some public and others less so, for Formula One to analyze, research and make amendments to the rule books to get us where we are now. Below is a compilation of the five worst pit lane incidents that I can recall:

5.

Kubica's BMW Sauber during a flash fire

During a routine pit stop during qualifying for the 2009 Bahrain F1 GP, Robert Kubica experiences a flash fire at the rear of the BMW Sauber. Though scary looking at first, the fire was quickly extinguished. Pit lane fires, though not common in F1, are well trained for by all mechanics and make extinguishing of fuel fires seem like the most normal thing to do. The French fight fire even in style. Click here to read more.

4.
Another type of pit lane fired happened during the 2009 Brazilian GP when the McLaren team wanted to send Heikki Kovalainen out ahead of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen. Unfortunately, the McLaren crew were not yet finished with the refueling when the "go" sign was given to Heikki.

Kimi lighting up Heikki's spilt fuel

So the Fin left with the fuel hose still attached to the car, causing the spilled fuel to spray directly onto the oncoming Ferrari of a fellow Fin and causing a rarely seen pit lane fire. To watch a video about this incident, click here. Afterwards, race stewards deemed Kovalainen's release had been unsafe and fined the team US$ 50,000.

3.
During the 2003 Austrian GP, legendary driver Michael Schumacher came into the pits for fuel while leading the race with a comfortable 10 seconds cushion. A problem with the refueling rig saw a fuel spill around the Ferrari's cockpit, but the cool headed crew quickly extinguished the fire and sent Schumi back into the race after the lengthy 20 second pit stop. He would eventually win the race. To watch a video of the pit stop, click here.

2.
One of the coolest guys under pressure, Jarno Trulli while driving the TF105 Toyota during the 2005 Spanish GP made a routine pit-stop, but as he pulled away he saw flames filling his rear view mirror. Fuel had escaped from the delivery hose as it uncoupled from the car, and catching fire as it touched the Toyota's RVX-05 3.0 V-10's hot exhausts. The team quickly extinguished the initial blaze, while the last flickers of the flame were finally extinguished as Trulli rolled off down the pit lane.

"When I saw the fire at the back of the car, I just said to [to myself] I will pull away and go because I wanted to try my best".

Trulli would go on to place third on the podium. A special re-print of this picture adorns my garage, for I found the Italian's performance that day quite extra-ordinary.

1.
One of the most dangerous and certainly most infamous fuel fires in Formula One's long history happened at the 1994 German GP at the Hockenheimring. Dutchman Jos Verstappen, driving for Benetton Ford, heads for the pit lane for a routine stop on lap 15. Once the car is in the box the well choreographed routine starts.

Both jacks are slid under the car while the fuel hose comes out. The car is raised and refueling begins while a crew member slightly opens Verstappen's visor. With refueling complete after just 2 seconds, disaster strikes. A junior mechanic removes the fuel hose filter (designed to restrict the rate at which fuel fuel flows into the cars running a pit stop) quarter-of-a-second too soon, causing over three liters of flammable fuel to spray all over the car and most of the crew. Though the ensuing fireball was controlled in a mere three seconds by the same crew, the conventional opinion is that it was a miracle that no one was seriously hurt, except Verstappen, who at the time had his helmet's visor open. He would only suffer some burning around his eyes. To watch a video of the incident, click here.

A Benetton crew member consumed by fire. Photographer unknown

Jos Verstappen's pit lane fire would bring about a great deal of safety rules to prevent this incident from ever happening again.

Source: Epic Formula 1, Wikipedia,
Photo credit: Autosport.com, Boston.com, F1, Rob Dyck,