Thirty years ago today when competing under the Benetton team name we were involved in one of the most dramatic incidents ever seen in a Formula 1 pitlane.

 

 

Jos Verstappen’s car was engulfed by flames after fuel was spilled during a routine stop during the German GP, but thankfully the fire was quickly dealt with, and those affected received only minor injuries.

 

 

The TV and photographic images of the Hockenheim fire on July 31 1994 provided a stark reminder of how the sport can never take safety for granted, and it was a valuable lesson for all teams.

 

 

One image in particular, taken by photographer Steven Tee, is more closely associated with the incident than any other.

 

 

It shows Paul Seaby, whose job in the crew was to put the front right wheel onto the car, trying to escape from the flames.

 

 

The 1994 season was the first under new regulations that allowed refuelling, and teams were still understanding the equipment – including the fuel rigs, which were all provided by a third-party supplier.

 

 

Hockenheim was the ninth race of a season that sadly had seen tragedy with the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger at Imola, as well as several other serious accidents. Thus safety was very much on the minds of the team.

 

 

“We'd had trouble with the rig that year, and we didn't really trust it a lot,” Paul recalls. “And some people really weren't taking refuelling very seriously. But as a team, we did.

 

 

“I know some teams weren't wearing proper fireproofs and things like that, because it was new. And F1 as a sport was a bit blase, and there were no real regs. However, we had proper overalls, we had underwear, we had triple layer balaclavas, we had goggles.

 

 

“I was right front wheel on. So I had my back to Simon Morley, who was refueling. Jos came in, and it was just a normal pitstop. I was putting the wheel on and then I just saw a load of water, or what I thought was water, and felt it on my back.

 

 

“Then in a split second I thought, ‘That's not water, it's fuel.’ And as I turned, it just went up. So obviously you go for the nearest exit. And the nearest exit was into the garage.”

 

 

Standing behind refueller Morley, and helping to support the heavy fuel hose, was truckie Martin Pople.

 

 

“It all happened so quickly,” recalls Pople. “There was just a big explosion and fire. The fuel flowed out and was ignited by the front and rear brake pads, because they were hot. They said only three litres were spilled, but it looked a lot more than that in the pictures!

 

 

“The first instinct was to get away from there, and I can’t even remember what I did. The fuel on my suit was on fire, but they put it out quickly. I know I was in a state of shock afterwards.”

 

 

“Steven Tee was obviously in the garage,” says Seaby. “And he took the photo as I was running at him. I was alight for 18 seconds, which is quite a long time, and I was rolling around on the floor.

 

 

“I pulled my balaclava off and threw it away. And then I reignited again, and then Dave ‘Yosser’ Hughes, who used to be our tyre man and our truckie, threw a bucket of water over me.”

 

 

As the crew members were trying to recover from the shock the race continued, and Verstappen’s team mate Michael Schumacher was running second – and due a pit stop of his own.

 

 

“We were just dousing ourselves down where it was stinging a bit,” says Seaby. “And then [team manager] Joann Villadelprat came up to us and said, ‘Michael's coming in. Will you do a pit stop?’

 

 

“We were going, ‘Yeah, okay,’ and started to put our overalls back on. We were all getting ready again and then Michael came over the radio and said his engine had gone, and we were going to retire. So we didn't have to go out.”

 

 

Fortunately Verstappen escaped with minor injuries, and so did the crew members.

 

 

“I just had some light burns across my face, and on the back of my legs,” says Paul. “My hair was frazzled. And that was about it. I was lucky. We went down to the medical office because there were three of us with burns, myself, Simon and Wayne Bennett.

 

 

“Wayne had burnt his ankle, because he didn't have the fireproof socks. Simon had facial burns because he was the refueller, and it went down in his helmet.

 

 

“We were ushered to the bathroom in the medical centre. Simon and myself were in a bath sharing the shower to cool our burns, and Wayne was getting frustrated because his ankle was really hurting. So in the end he stuck his foot in the toilet and just flushed it wanting to try and cool it down!”

 

 

All involved had time to take stock before the next race in Hungary.

 

 

“The good thing is that Michael dropped out of the race after that, because otherwise we would have had to do another pit stop,” says Pople. “That would have played worse on people’s minds. At least we had a couple of weeks to get ourselves composed and get back into it.”

 

 

Not surprisingly Morley never did another pit stop, and he was replaced as refueller by volunteer Steve Bird for Budapest. However, the rest of the crew remained in their roles.

 

 

“It was a bit weird afterwards,” Seaby admits. “The next race it was really quite emotional doing the first pitstop. But then I went to a full oxygen tank with helmet. I was the only guy in the pitstop that wore one who wasn't on the hose.

 

 

“It allowed you to walk around in a fire, and you had something like 25 seconds of air. And I thought if I had that, and it went up again, then at least I can go and drag people out of it.”

 

 

Thirty years on Paul still works at Enstone, and as race team factory support manager he is a vital link between weekend operations at the track and the home base, and he makes regular appearances at race circuits.

 

 

His fellow 1994 pit crew members Andrew Alsworth and Tim Baston are also still with the team, as race support team manager and show car coordinator respectively.

 

 

While refuelling during races has long been outlawed, Hockenheim provided a valuable lesson to the effect that as a sport F1 can never pay too much attention to all aspects of safety, especially in the pitlane, the garage, and the paddock.