Rosberg's Tire Hit a Williams Mechanic in the Pit Lane

Lap 18 of the recent Hungarian Grand Prix witnessed some unusual events in the pit lane, once all the competitors went in for a new set of tires following the deployment of the safety car. With everyone trying to gain a few positions through a quick pit stop, it's needless to say the mechanics were on a race against the clock to deliver a great pit stop time.

So much that the ones at Mercedes Grand Prix let their driver Nico Rosberg leave their stand with a loose right rear tire. Shortly after returning to the pit lane and planning to exit the track, Rosberg witnessed his tire going off and traveling on its own through the paddock.

After going past some pit crews without hurting anybody, it appears the tire ended its journey into a member of the Williams-Cosworth team. The mechanic in question is Nigel Hope, who was knocked out unconscious in the incident and was taken to the medical centre immediately. Apart from being a team's mechanic, Hope is also a truck driver for Williams.

Fortunately enough, the medical staff cleared Hope to return to pitstop, after diagnosing him with a broken rib.

The coincidence is that Rosberg and Hope know each other from the time the German driver was racing for Frank Williams' team. After finding out that everything was fine with Hope, Rosberg joked about the whole incident.

“After I heard that my tire hit 'big Nige', I was more concerned about my tire than him!” smiled the Mercedes GP driver.