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Ferrari explain leg breaking pit-stop

13:00, 13 Apr 2018

byNicolás Quarles van Ufford

A Ferrari investigation has found that the cause of Kimi Raikkonen breaking a mechanic's leg because he got the green light too early was a sensor problem, which resulted in the green light being given way too early.

An issue came up during Kimi Raikkonen's pit stop last weekend, as the left rear tyre didn't come off, which meant bad things for mechanic Francesco Cigarini. As he was still trying to get the tyre off, Raikkonen got the green light and pulled away as he should. The problem was, Cigarini was still standing over the left rear tyre as Raikkonen pulled away and the mechanic snapped his leg in half as Raikkonen drove straight through it. Ferrari got fined €50,000,- for the unsafe release.

“We have a procedure to ensure that the pit stops during the race are done in the safest mode," team principal Maurizio Arrivabene said after uncovering what went wrong exactly.

"In this case, we have three factors – one involves human control, the other involves mechanical, the other involves [an] electronic [sensor].

"The rear left was not perfectly read by the electronic sensor that gives the green light, that's what happened.

“We went through all the procedures together with the FIA, making sure that this thing doesn't happen again, and it’s in our interest, because we care about our people, before anything else.”

So, what happened is that the sensor thought the tyre was changed, as the wheel gun was engaged and then disengaged, even though the same tyre was still on. Measures have been taken to prevent this from happening again.

Cigarini was operated within a day after the accident and is back in Italy recovering after flying back on Thursday, Arrivabene then told.