Unsafe release? You can say that again

The Hispania team has been fined $20,000 for an unsafe release from the pit stop of Sakon Yamamoto this afternoon in which a team member was injured.

The Japanese driver came into the pits on lap 22 and a technician leaned into the cockpit of the car. When the four tyres had been changed the chief mechanic raised the lollipop and despite the fact that the technician was still reaching in, Yamamoto drove off.

The technician was dragged along initially and then was flipped in the air by the rear wing. An ambulance had to come down the pit lane to administer first aid and the technician was taken to the circuit's medical centre for further attention.

Clearly there will be some injuries, judging by the violence of his fall. There are few details from Hispania of the victim's precise condition, but in the team's press release, Yamamoto expresses relief that he is "not badly injured."

Pit lane security for mechanics is always a concern and is likely to be the subject of a review between teams and the FIA. The incident comes a few weeks after a Williams mechanic was knocked flat by a loose wheel in the pit lane in Hungary and Robert Kubica was released into the path of Adrian Sutil. Earlier this year we saw Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel racing side by side in the pit lane in China.

There is a You Tube clip of the accident, from overhead, shot by a guest in the Paddock Club. I'm not posting the clip here because it is quite distressing, but if you want to see what happens, you can find it on You Tube.