Lando Norris had to run into an adventurous man on the pit lane at the Miami F1 race. Last weekend, a group of photographers and editors barely managed to get out from under Esteban Ocon.
A frightening situation was seen in the F1 race in Miami on Sunday, when McLaren Lando Norris turned into the pits on the 10th lap of the race. After a tight corner, a man carrying a backpack crept across the pit straight in front of the British driver.
On the pit straight, the adventurer didn’t even seem to see the McLaren, but luckily managed to walk away from underneath. A serious accident was about a second away, because you can drive 80 kilometers per hour on the Miami pit straight.
The situation can be seen from Norris’ Onboard camera. You can watch it from this link (you will go to another service).
A similar situation was seen the previous weekend at the Azerbaijan GP. Alpine Esteban Ocon was coming to the pits on the last lap, when at the beginning of the pit straight a group of people who didn’t belong there was running around. The group of photographers and editors just managed to dodge Ocon.
– I arrived at a speed of 300 kilometers per hour and braked at the last moment before the finish line. I had to brake and dodge people. It could have been a huge, huge accident. We will definitely talk about this, Ocon was surprised in an interview with Viaplay.
In Norris’ case, the Miami race was in full swing. Ocon came to the pits in Azerbaijan a lap before the end of the race to perform his mandatory pit stop, but the photographers had time to gather on the pit straight for podium shots.
‘s formula expert Jukka Mildh reminded after the race in Azerbaijan that according to the rules, the race organizers and photographers can already start gathering for the podium party in advance.
– It was a very dangerous situation. The competition organizers acted according to the rules, but it was a big risk, Mildh stated.
After the race in Azerbaijan, the International Automobile Federation FIA decided (you switch to another service)that there needs to be a change to being in the pit lane for the next races.
– We went through the practices in detail with the FIA representatives and demand that they make changes immediately so that this does not happen again, the competition jury ruled (you will switch to another service).
– The FIA representatives were sorry for what happened and assured us that they will react by the next race.
After the race, the FIA announced new guidelines, according to which VIP guests and mechanics must stay away from the pit lane until the last car has crossed the finish line and it is clear that there will be no more pit stops.