Ferrari open up on pit-stop error during Bahrain Grand Prix

Ferrari were hit by the pit-stop error that they made during the Bahrain Grand Prix, one because an important pit crew member was severely injured and two because Raikkonen missed out on a potential podium finish.

The pit-lane accident has attracted a lot of eye-balls, raising serious concerns over Ferrari’s pit-stop procedure, and how did the lights go green when the rear wheel was still loose.

Ferrari boss, Maurizio Arrivabene revealed that a comprehensive investigation was carried out regarding the entire incident.

The investigation was carried out under the aegis of the FIA.

“The team was hurt that a person was injured, so it was in our interest to review the overall procedure,” he said, as quoted by Motorsport.com

“We have a procedure to ensure the pitstops during the race are done as safely as possible.

“In this case we have three factors: human control [the pit crew members], mechanical [the wheel gun] and an electronic device [a sensor to determine a properly attached wheel].” he added.

Arrivabene has admitted that the electronic device read the manual signals incorrectly and thus gave the green light to Kimi, making him run over the leg of the mechanic.

Now, according to Motorsport.com, the old wheel not being detached properly and the mechanic fixing it back in in order to try and remove it back made the sensor understand that a new wheel had been put in place.

The sensor therefore gave Kimi the green signal.

The Ferrari boss has confirmed that all precautions have been taken to prevent such an accident from happening in the future.

“We care about our people before anything else” he said.

“I would like to thank our team doctor, the FIA medical staff and also the authority of Bahrain that granted to us immediately the best doctor in Bahrain to do the surgery,”

“They were assisting us 24 hours [a day], literally, so thanks to all of them.” he concluded.