Pit lane drama as engineer injured

A MEMBER of the Hispania Formula 1 team was injured during Sunday's Italian Grand Prix when Sakon Yamamoto drove off while the man was still working on the car.

Video footage showed the man, possibly a radio engineer, leaning over the car to fix something while the rest of the pit crew stood back.

He was then clouted by the rear wing as Yamamoto was released and fell limply to the ground. Other Formula 1 teams were notified on timing screens during the race that an ambulance would be entering the pit lane to take the injured man to the circuit medical centre. Hispania said in a statement that the crew member had remained conscious and been talking to the doctor, adding that the situation was under control. There was no immediate word from the medical centre.

"I was very worried about the incident in the pit-lane. I asked if he was okay and I was told that he was not badly injured," Yamamoto said.

Meanwhile. Sebastian Vettel today feared his championship dream was over for a few awful minutes, only to finish with a result that has rekindled his title hopes. Vettel was running in sixth position in the Italian Grand Prix when he suddenly felt a slow loss of power from his Red Bull on lap 20.

Within a few moments team-mate Mark Webber had eased by, and come the conclusion of that lap and the one that followed, Vettel posted times two seconds slower than all around him.

But as swiftly as the problem materialised, it disappeared, forcing the team to change their strategy as he did not make his tyre stop until the end of the penultimate lap.

"For one and a half laps I thought it's over, it's all over," said Vettel on his mid-race drama. "Something happened to the car. I don't know what it was, maybe there was some friction, but fortunately the problem solved itself. But it meant I lost connection to the group ahead, and I had to come back from there which was a tough fight."