Media Banned from Pitlane

Today, news came out from the FIA that they are not allowing media of any sort in the pitlane for the next race in Hungary. It is unknown whether this is temporary or is a permanent solution. This was done because of an incident in Germany when a tyre came off of Mark Webber's Red Bull and hit a cameraman standing near by. Fortunately, the cameraman was okay and had no serious injuries. However, this is a bad move by the FIA in my opinion. If this is only a temporary fix, then I'm okay with it, but if not, it is a huge mistake. Will Buxton had some very good points on Twitter(@willbuxton) regarding this:
      

"We accept the risks when entering the pitlane. Risks for practice nowhere near as great as in race situation. Hope this is reviewed soon."

 

"We don't get garage access either, so information gathering in practice sessions will rely on teams upping PR game hugely."

 

"If a mechanic, engineer, team boss, FIA scrutineer or doctor had been hit by a tyre, would that profession now be banned from pitlane?"

 

"The issue I have is not with cameras in pitlane but in the gathering of information in practice sessions. That's why we were in the pits."

 

"What now? Allow every TV crew / pit reporter into every garage? Full of fuel, KERS, working mechanics. Put all pit reporters on pitwall?"

 

"Do we expect a constant stream of info from team PRs to us on paddock side? We'll never know who is running what, when."

 

"How are any of we pit reporters now supposed to bring you fans the info that you need and that is our job to give in the practice sessions?"

 

"That's why my back is up. Because you as fans will lose out. For everyone's sake, I hope this is only an interim solution."

 

"I would also like to point out there is an FIA Media Communications Group. (Formerly Press Council.) I sit on it as TV representative."

 

"Body includes journos, snappers, web and radio. As far as I am aware, we have not yet been asked for our opinions on the topic by FIA or FOM"

 

My favorite point was actually retweeted by Buxton from John Noble(NobleF1) saying:

"Am I alone in thinking it shouldn't be about removing people from the path of wheels? F1 needs to stop wheels coming off in the first place"

 

The problem is not people standing in the pitlane, but the tyres flying off of the cars. In IndyCar, they use drills that will not release unless the tire is securely fasten onto the car and there is rarely any problems like this in IndyCar. The FIA don't need to ruin the fans experience by not letting them call on the inside information that people like Will Buxton manage to provide for us. Not only does it hurt the fans, but it also makes the media's like much harder. Hopefully the FIA realizes this is not the right way to go about this issue and allows the media back in pitlane. It is impossible to make a pitlane completely safe.

German Grand Prix

One of the jewel races of the season didn't fail to disappoint, especially the Germans, as Sebastian Vettel hung on for dear life in the closing laps to take the win. It was a fairly clean race, with no collisions except for a cameraman and a tire. Mark Webber went in for a pit stop and his rear right tire wasn't fitted properly. He took off as his crew was calling him back, but it was too late has the tire fell off and knocked a cameraman down and Webber had to be pushed back to get the tire fitted the right way and he found himself at the back of the pack. Ferrari tried a different strategy by starting the race on the hard tires and let everyone else wear down their soft tires. Although, in the very early stages of the race, Felipe Massa had what appeared to be a mechanical failure and pulled off the track and was out of the race. Once again it was up to Alonso to save the day for Ferrari, which he did. He kept a good pace for the entire race even when he was feeling uncomfortable with the tires he was on and managed to stay at front of the pack throughout. Everything heated up with about 5 laps to go when Raikkonen was chasing down Vettel for first and Alonso was quickly catching Grosjean for third. Alonso was on a new soft tires whereas Grosjean was on 6 lap old softs. Unfortunately for Ferrari, Alonso couldn't catch Grosjean and just missed the podium. If there was just 1 or 2 laps more in the race, I think we would've been seeing Kimi with the victory and Alonso on the podium instead of Grosjean. However, more importantly, Pirelli made changes to the tires from last week in Britain and there were no problems for the any of the drivers except for Mercedes who continue to fight tire wear. In the end, it was a fantastic race and nice to see a German win if it wasn't going to be a Ferrari.