Scalabroni Apologetic Over Incident

Scalabroni stepped down from the pitwall after spotting his driver Hiroki Yoshimoto had stopped for far longer than expected at his first compulsory stop. He crossed over the pitlane just as Pantano was pulling out of his pit, with Pantano having to brake hard to avoid him.

"I was just going over because I saw Yoshimoto stopped in the pits," the red-faced team boss admitted after the race. "He had some problem so I was going over to have a look, and I just didn't realise Giorgio was there."

The incident didn't cost Pantano too much time, as he was shortly back in the lead of the race before stopping towards the end of the race with a car problem, but unfortunately for Yoshimoto he stepped out of his car shortly afterwards.

The portly team boss was able to laugh about his scare after the event, jokingly adding: "It was lucky for Giorgio really, because if he had hit me and I fell on him I might have crushed him!"