Marshals' courage impresses Alonso

9:48am Saturday 5th July 2008

Renault's Fernando Alonso has revealed his new-found respect for trackside marshals after finding himself with a grandstand seat for Felipe Massa's huge accident in Friday's practice session ahead of the British Grand Prix.

The two-time world champion had an unwitting role in the Brazilian's spectacular shunt when the engine in his Renault let go down Silverstone's 180mph Hangar Straight, spewing oil on the entry into the fifth-gear Stowe corner, and Massa's Ferrari lurched out of control after hitting Alonso's oil.

"I was walking on the tyre barrier to the car to take me back to the paddock and Massa hit the tyre barrier 10 metres, more or less, from where I was at that time," Alonso revealed. "When I saw the car coming, it was a little bit scary - I had nowhere to go. So I was there like the marshals, with my fingers crossed that no pieces of the car would hit me."

The Spaniard added it was sobering to watch a crashing Formula One car from the vantage point of the marshals.

"They are in a dangerous position constantly, but for sure when you are there and you see the speed of the car, the speed of the crashes, they are much bigger than you feel in the car," he said.

"When you are in the car you think, 'Okay, I crashed but it's not too quick'. When you are outside, it is really quick."

Massa, meanwhile, was a helpless passenger from the moment his car encountered the oil.

"I didn't see any [oil] flags and I had approached the corner in the usual way and then I totally lost control of the car under braking," he said.

"I tried to slow down but the impact was still pretty violent.

"The car was completely destroyed, but fortunately the chassis was all right. The shunt was more than 25Gs, but I didn't feel like it was a big shunt."

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