2013 German Grand Prix

Electric-Mayhem said:
I was SO pissed off at that wheel gun guy with Webber's pit stop, and that was before he even drove away and it came off and hit the camera man. The BBC commentators were just saying how Webber could pass Vettel in the pits and then the car didn't move and my first thought was "well...that's awfully convenient for Vettel". It was an overhead camera shot, and I was kicking the right rear wheel gunner in the head in my minds eye (just one good one to the helmet).
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The wheel gun man's focus is on getting the nut on the stud, not letting the Chief Mechanic know he's having a problem doing so. The Chief Mechanic is supposed to wait until all four of the wheel gun men signal that they have successfully completed their work. When a car launches without that, it's going to be almost always the fault of the Chief Mechanic for not properly reading the signals. I also believe the guy who put the rear tire on was waving that the job was not done while the wheel gun man was working to correct the problem, which should have been an indicator to the Chief Mechanic that there was an issue.

I don't know how F1 teams choreograph their stops, but I would not be surprised if the senior race engineer on the pit wall is watching the stop on TV via the overhead camera and when he thinks the stop is done, is yelling at the Chief Mechanic to launch the car (this seems to be how they do it in IndyCar). But even if this is the case, again, it is the Chief Mechanic's job to verify the work is done via reading the four gunmen's signal indicating such.
 
Sometimes accidents are accidents... it's Red Bull, they have one of the best pit crews in the business.
 
Kiskaloo said:
The wheel gun man's focus is on getting the nut on the stud, not letting the Chief Mechanic know he's having a problem doing so. The Chief Mechanic is supposed to wait until all four of the wheel gun men signal that they have successfully completed their work. When a car launches without that, it's going to be almost always the fault of the Chief Mechanic for not properly reading the signals. I also believe the guy who put the rear tire on was waving that the job was not done while the wheel gun man was working to correct the problem, which should have been an indicator to the Chief Mechanic that there was an issue.

I don't know how F1 teams choreograph their stops, but I would not be surprised if the senior race engineer on the pit wall is watching the stop on TV via the overhead camera and when he thinks the stop is done, is yelling at the Chief Mechanic to launch the car (this seems to be how they do it in IndyCar). But even if this is the case, again, it is the Chief Mechanic's job to verify the work is done via reading the four gunmen's signal indicating such.
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Like I said....I was already wanting to kick the guy before he even drove off. Coulthard and Ben Edwards were commenting on the BBC coverage at the time that Webber had a good chance of passing Vettel in the pits and that wheel gunner ruined all chances of that happening, and then they release him without fixing the problem and the rest happened.

If you watch the footage again, they get the wheel in place fine, the gunner has problem getting the nut on, and then the guy who took the old tire off comes over and starts waving (presumably to take the wheel off and try another one) and I imagine the Chief Mechanic saw a waving hand and released Webber.
 
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Electric-Mayhem said:
If you watch the footage again, they get the wheel in place fine, the gunner has problem getting the nut on, and then the guy who took the old tire off comes over and starts waving (presumably to take the wheel off and try another one) and I imagine the Chief Mechanic saw a waving hand and released Webber.
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The wheel guns at RBR have a little button that the gunner has to push once he's finished his job. Only when these buttons on all four wheel guns have been pushed, the light on the lollipop goes green and the driver can take off. The problem was that the right rear gunner accidentally pushed that button when he tried another wheel nut as the first one got wedged. That's why Mark blasted out with the wheel unattached.
 
Kiskaloo said:
Ah, well then the wheel-gun man does deserve a spanner to the helmet. :)
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I just logged it under one of those "shit happens" events, enough random events conspired to send a race tire bouncing into a camera man. No one died, and a certain wheel-gun man will be a LOT more careful from now on.
 
Or maybe it's time to end stupid gimmicks like that. You can't honestly tell me the difference between pressing a button and the traditional lifting your hand in the air gives you a significant advantage, specially when you factor in the lower reliability of the button system. I remember Massa driving away with a fuel hose attached cos Ferrari tried a light system before, or something like it.
 
I would tend to agree with you Mpicco, but when you are trying to shave tenths of second off your pitstops every little thing helps. All that stuff is the reason why RBR is routinely the fastest at pitstops.

I agree that its a "stuff happens" kind of moment, but that doesn't mean I can't throw my hands up in exasperation or yell at the TV when it happens. I don't really feel any ill will towards the gunner, but the series of events he set off both , at the least, ruined the race for Webber and at worst cost him the race win, with the poor camera guy being collateral damage.

Oh well....it gave use something to talk about other then tires wearing out I guess.
 
mpicco said:
Or maybe it's time to end stupid gimmicks like that. You can't honestly tell me the difference between pressing a button and the traditional lifting your hand in the air gives you a significant advantage, specially when you factor in the lower reliability of the button system. I remember Massa driving away with a fuel hose attached cos Ferrari tried a light system before, or something like it.
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At the speed of the pitstops we're seeing, pressing a button would be a huge advantage over raising an arm. First the guy has to pull the wheel gun off the wheel and then raise his arm up. The chief mechanic then has to identify and register the movement. Alternatively the wheel gun guy could press the button the instant the gun is detached from the wheel (all he has to do is move his thumb slightly), sending a signal to a computer which can react a hell of a lot quicker than a human can. We're only talking tenths of a second, but they all count!
 
No, because the chief mechanic still has to authorize the car to move away, taking into account all the other factors, chief among which the safety distance if another car is rolling down the pit lane.
 
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