As Michael Schumacher celebrated his 85th Grand Prix victory at Imola yesterday, Jenson Button was left ruing yet another lost opportunity as his prospects of a strong result from second place on the starting grid evaporated in a bizarre episode at his second refuelling stop.



The British driver ran second from the start and was holding third place behind Schumacher and Alonso by the time he steered his Honda RA106 into the pit lane to fill up at the end of lap 30. It seemed as though the refuelling routine was going to plan when the chief mechanic Alastair Gibson, holding the lollipop sign that indicates the driver should remain stationary with his foot hard on the brakes while the fuel nozzle is connected, raised the sign and Button naturally assumed it was time to resume the race.


As he started to accelerate Gibson suddenly realised that his colleagues had not yet removed the nozzle, so he abruptly brought the lollipop down with a bang on Button's passing helmet in the hope of stopping him immediately. Button slammed on the brakes but already the nozzle had been torn off the end of its fuel line and it was extremely fortunate that the residual fuel in the line did not ignite, even though several team personnel were knocked over.



A mechanic ran and removed the nozzle from its attachment on the side of the car but by the time Button got back on the circuit he was down in a distant seventh with no further prospect of a top-three finish.

"There is no doubt that we missed out on the chance of a podium today as the car was quick and we had a good strategy," said Button.

"I had a problem at the first pit stop with the right rear wheel and then in the second pit stop the lollipop was raised before the fuel hose was disconnected. Unfortunately when that happens, it takes all of the pit crew with it. The chief mechanic has lifted the lollipop perfectly hundreds of times before and I know he'll make sure this never happens again."

Source: Guardian Unlimited