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German GP: Red Bull fined for cameraman wheel incident

Red Bull has been fined €30,000 by the FIA for releasing Mark Webber unsafely from the pitstop that led to a cameraman being injured during the German Grand Prix

Webber's right-rear wheel detached during his first stop on lap eight of the race at the Nurburgring.

It bounced down the pitlane and struck cameraman Paul Allen, who was later taken to hospital.

Red Bull refitted a wheel to Webber's car and the Australian returned to the race to finish seventh.

German Grand Prix race report

His team will now pay a financial penalty for the incident, but Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said the most important thing was the wellbeing of the injured cameraman.

"It is a horrible feeling because your immediate concern is for that individual and you hope that he will be alright," said Horner.

"I initially thought it was a Mercedes mechanic, but very quickly I was updated by FOM that it was one of their cameramen and that he was on his way to hospital.

"They kept me updated during the race with their findings. The most important thing is that he is OK, it must be shocking for his family to see something like that."

The team chose not to tell Webber what happened so he could focus on the rest of his race.

Horner said Red Bull would now investigate what went wrong at the pitstop.

"We need to understand what has happened and why the wheel wasn't located at Mark's stop," he added.

"Most importantly the cameraman is fundamentally OK. Obviously that was our primary concern.

"It is a timely reminder that the pitlane is still a pretty dangerous place to be."

The FIA has also fined Force India €5,000 for releasing Paul di Resta into the path of Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne during his first stop on lap five of the race.

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