Motor Racing: Experts to investigate fireball: Authorities to examine Benetton pit-lane accident

THE pit-lane fireball which engulfed Jos Verstappen's Benetton at Sunday's German Grand Prix will be fully investigated by Formula One experts this week.

The safety commission and a special expert advisory group formed by the sport's governing body, FIA, will examine all aspects, making recommendations and ordering improvements where necessary.

'The incident will be looked at as a matter of course, like any other incident,' a spokesman said yesterday. 'The safety commission and expert advisory group will get all the facts together and speak to the mechanics, the driver, the fire-fighting people, before they investigate fully.

'Refuelling is not going to go away - it's an integral part of racing,' he said. 'But we have to carefully examine all aspects involved in it.'

Representatives from the French company Intertechnique, the manufacturers of the refuelling equipment used by Benetton at Hockenheim, will go to the team's Oxfordshire factory tomorrow to conduct their own investigation.

Simon Morley, one of the Benetton mechanics caught in the fireball, is expected to leave hospital today.