2. Work safety
During the 1981 Belgian Grand Prix, in Friday practice, one of the mechanics was killed in an accident, when he fell right in front of the rushing Carlos Reutemann’s Williams. Mechanics of all teams staged a protest, claiming that the pits were too narrow and overcrowded and not safe for work. With cars lined up on the grid, organizers decided to ignore them and decided to start the race, but some of the cars were idling for too long and started to overheat.
Riccardo Patrese turned his car off to cool it down, but then couldn’t start them when the signal for the race was given. His mechanic, Dave Luckett, ran onto the track to start the car from behind. Siegfried Stohr, Patrese’s teammate, failed to see them in time and ram his car into them. Luckett was lucky and only came out with several bone fractures. The incident led to several regulations being changed.
