Mosley: Failsafe System Prevented Serious Fire

Max Mosley, the president of the Formula One governing body, said today that a fuel filler failsafe cut-out system may have saved World Champion Michael Schumacher from injury at Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix.

Schumacher was lucky to escape from the incident after some quick thinking from his mechanics saw the fire rapidly extinguished and the Italian team immediately started an investigation into the cause.

Ferrari have since said the failure was down to a broken seal and FIA president Max Mosley added: "The FIA is in the process of conducting a detailed analysis of the incident with Ferrari and the fuel rig manufacturer."

The FIA will continue with the investigation into the problems with the fuel rig, which is supplied to all teams by Intertechnique as a standard part, but have already ruled out ending the use of refuelling.

The rigs were first investigated after Dutchman Jos Verstappen's pitlane fire at Hockenheim in 1994 and Mosley said: "After the Verstappen fire the fuel delivery hose was modified to incorporate a failsafe cut-out system. It did work on this occasion and prevented any serious blaze.

"If there is to be a fire, then better in the pitlane where it can be dealt with efficiently and expertly, than somewhere out on the circuit."