German GP: Hamilton worried and Alonso surprised by the absence of safety car

The German Grand Prix was marked by an unusual incident: in the 47th lap, Adrian Sutil spun out at the beginning of the pit straight, with the engine stalled. Stuck there, the Sauber C33 was off the racing line but still on the track. It remained in this position for a while, with that section under yellow flag conditions, and was eventually removed by marshals who crossed the track during a calm moment.

This situation has raised many questions: should the race director have deployed the safety car to ensure the marshals could work safely? This is the opinion of Lewis Hamilton: « I was really worried about the marshals, really concerned. You come out of that corner at a good speed, and then there are marshals not far from where you’re passing. For me, it’s closer than it has been for a very, very long time, » he explains to our British colleagues at Autosport.

To support his statements, he recalls the case of Tom Pryce in 1977, during the South African Grand Prix. While his teammate, Italian Renzo Zorzi, was stopped off track on the straight, with the car slightly on fire, two marshals crossed the track to intervene. However, at the spot where they crossed, drivers speeding at full throttle could not see them due to the Kyalami track’s elevation. Although Hans-Joachim Stuck miraculously managed to avoid the two men, it was not the case for Pryce, who struck the second marshal, Frederick Janssen van Vuuren, who was carrying a fire extinguisher. Both men were killed instantly, and the Shadow of the unconscious driver continued its course before colliding with Jacques Laffite’s Ligier at the end of the straight.

Hamilton says: « I was working at the Bedford racing school and one day I arrived and they had this video playing all the time. It was a video of a race from years ago with a car stopped on the track, a marshal crossed the circuit and was hit by an oncoming car. That’s the first thing I thought of. Obviously, we weren’t going as fast as on that straight, but I was scared for the marshals. Luckily, no one was injured. »

On Fernando Alonso’s side, it’s also astonishment that prevails: « We hoped for it, not because it would benefit us, there were 17 laps left until the end and if we had put on the ultra-softs, 17 laps is difficult. But being objective and honest, we probably expected a safety car in a normal situation. Sometimes, they bring out a safety car for a piece of front wing on the track and here, it was a car, and there was no safety car. »

Despite everything, the Ferrari driver trusts the race direction: « It was a surprise. But if they didn’t bring it out, it’s because they felt there was no risk and they removed the car in a safe manner – I hope, I didn’t see it – and it was fine. »

In 2015, the deployment of a safety car will lead to a new standing start. The question then is whether the race direction is not preparing for this novelty by choosing to deploy the Safety Car sparingly. The debate remains open.