Redbull penalized after tire accident

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has warned of the dangers of working in a Formula One pit lane after a wheel from one of the team's cars came loose and struck a cameraman.

Paul Allen, who was working for Formula One Management at Sunday's German Grand Prix, was hospitalized with a broken collarbone and cracked ribs.

The incident occurred when Red Bull's Australian driver Mark Webber came in for a pit stop on lap nine of the race at the Nurburgring Circuit.

The right rear tire of Webber's car was not fitted properly and came off as he pulled away from the garage, with the wheel hitting Allen, who was facing in the opposite direction.

"The most important thing today is that the cameraman who got struck by the tire does not appear to have suffered any life-threatening injuries," Horner told the sport's official website.

"It's a timely reminder that working in the pit lane is dangerous. Everyone reacted incredibly quickly and the most important thing is to hear that he seems to be fundamentally OK.

"We need to understand what went wrong in that first pit stop for Mark, but as I said, our main concern today is knowing that the cameraman is OK."

Force India were also fined €5,000 ($6,400) after driver Paul Di Resta pulled out into the path of Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne when exiting the pit lane.

On the track it was a good day for Red Bull, with Sebastian Vettel extending his lead in the world championship by taking the checkered flag at his home grand prix for the first time in his career.

Triple world champion Vettel, bidding to win a fourth successive drivers' title, is now 34 points clear of second-place Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso.

Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen was hot on the heels of Vettel in the closing stages, but the German hung on for his fourth race win of the year.

"It was a tough race; it was one of the toughest for a long time," said the 26-year-old Vettel. "I'm happy the race wasn't two or three laps longer, as Kimi was a bit quicker towards the end.

"I'm very happy that it worked out and it's very special. The team worked really hard to give me the chance to win this weekend and we got it."


/CNN/