Jordan Mechanics Uninjured after Pitstop Incident

A problem with his car's clutch was to blame for Nick Heidfeld's incident during a pitstop at Sunday's Australian Grand Prix.

Jordan's German driver Heidfeld overshot his braking point due to a problem with his car and ran into his mechanics.

Jordan said Heidfeld teammate's Giorgio Pantano's number one mechanic Matt Deane and spares co-ordinator and pitstop refueller Mick Gomme suffered some bruising in the incident, but were without serious injury.

"What happened in the pitstop has never happened to me before and I was pretty afraid for the mechanics," said Heidfeld. "Luckily they are fine and that is the most important thing. It's not a problem we have had before but we noticed something wrong with the clutch and at the pitstop it didn't work at all so the car just kept pushing whilst stuck in first gear. It was the same problem that forced me to retire.

"In terms of our performance, I actually expected we would be better in race conditions, however I struggled with tyre graining throughout most of the race. We definitely have a good basis to improve the package and find that performance level for the next couple of races."

Heidfeld retired from the race on lap 44, while teammate Pantano went on to finish in 14th position more than three laps down.

"I enjoyed my first Grand Prix and am very glad that we made it to the end," said rookie Pantano. "We kept ourselves relatively close to the field and finished just two laps down from Michael Schumacher which I think isn't too bad for our first race.

"I'm learning about the car very quickly and it will all keep coming together. Finishing the race was the target for this, my first Grand Prix, and I did it."