And I am liking the officials deciding on rapid evaluations of incidents.

Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo has told Sky Sports that next season is "too early" for rising Sauber star Sergio Perez to be handed a race seat at Ferrari.

"Next season is too early," he said in an interview with Sky Sports News' Rachel Brookes when asked about Perez.
"I'm very pleased for him because first of all it showed that our choice when we picked up him as a young driver was good. Then it is thanks to Sauber, thanks to the Ferrari Academy, he grow up.
"To put a young guy to Ferrari with the pressure of Ferrari, you need more experience."
Ferrari, who were known to talk to Mark Webber about joining them for 2013 prior to the Australian committing to Red Bull for a further season, potentially face a quandary over who to partner Alonso with next season given that, if reports from the Italian media are to be believed, reigning double World Champion is said to have signed some sort of pre-contract agreement to join the team from 2014.

Although all parties involved have played down that speculation since the initial reports broke several months ago, di Montezemolo is set to further fuel the conjecture having now revealed that Vettel is the driver on the grid he would most like to see at Ferrari in the future.

One of F1′s greatest figures has died this evening; Prof Sid Watkins, who was 84, passed away in a hospital in London.

The neurosurgeon from Liverpool, who was brought into F1 by Bernie Ecclestone to improve safety and medical standards, did more than anyone else in that field, getting F1 to the stage where it is today: a highly dangerous sport where accidents are survivable.

Prof Watkins was for 26 years the FIA medical delegate and introduced correct extraction techniques for getting drivers out of cars after accidents, led moves to improve crash structures and other safety measures and saved the lives of many well known F1 names. He attended to serious accidents for Gerhard Berger, Martin Donnelly, Nigel Mansell and Mika Hakkinen among others as well as the fatal accidents of Gilles Villeneuve and Ayrton Senna, who was a close personal friend.

Just as significantly, serious injuries had also been rare. Mika Hakkinen's head trauma in Adelaide in 1995 was the most alarming, and later Olivier Panis (Montreal, 1997) and Michael Schumacher (Silverstone, 1999) suffered broken legs. However, all three drivers were soon back in the cockpit. Since 2004, F1's safety record has continued to be exemplary, with Felipe Massa's head injury in Hungary in 2009 the most serious incident.

Having said that, it should also not be forgotten that fireman Paolo Ghislimberti was killed at Monza in September 2000, and spectator marshal Graham Beveridge lost his life in Melbourne six months later, both men struck by errant wheels.
Watkins at work to help Takuma Sato during the 2002 Austrian GP
Watkins at work to help Takuma Sato during the 2002 Austrian GP © LAT

Nevertheless, the Imola anniversary seemed like an occasion worth marking, if only to acknowledge the achievements of the FIA. Under Mosley's leadership, and with the support of team technical directors and other specialists, the oft-maligned organisation had made extraordinary progress, and indeed, it continues to do so. However, Sid said that there was no room for complacency.

"Anything can still happen," he admitted. "You can recognise it [the anniversary], but do not relax. Of course we are delighted that we haven't had any really serious injuries, and there has been a lot of good progress made with a strong scientific basis. But in the end, motor racing is what it is, and something unforeseen can occur."

Watkins was in the eye of the storm that rocked motor racing in the spring of 1994. Even before San Marino, Jean Alesi and JJ Lehto had suffered neck injuries in testing. That dark weekend in Imola was followed by the crashes involving Karl Wendlinger in Monaco and Andrea Montermini in Barcelona. Then, even as measures to slow the cars were being tested, Pedro Lamy's Lotus flew into an empty spectator enclosure at Silverstone.

For a while the sport was in turmoil, but cooler heads prevailed, and long-term plans put in motion. One of the first steps was an analysis of the circuits, led by the late Harvey Postlethwaite, which pinpointed 27 "high risk" corners. In essence, it was those taken at high speed, and with high g-loadings. Over time that number was significantly reduced.

That resulted from a combination of circuit modifications and a slowing of the cars. A reduction of engine size from 3.5 to 3.0-litres for 1995 was the most significant step, followed by narrow-track suspension and grooved tyres three years later. Almost every season until 2004 there had been measures to control speeds, usually by trimming downforce, and that process of course continues today.

It would be wrong to assume that everything started with Imola, for a lot of good work had been done in the preceding decades. Chassis crash testing began as long ago as 1985, and even by '94 it had become stricter and more sophisticated. But Imola created a momentum that still exists.

"The Imola weekend was a watershed in safety," said Sid. "It was such a period of turmoil. Max Mosley deserves a lot of praise for setting up the research commission, and giving us such tremendous financial and moral support, with a free hand to co-opt any expert to perform any experiment that we wanted. For the first time one could plug the medical and biophysical aspects of motor racing into the design of the car."
Imola '94 marked the future of safety in F1
Imola '94 marked the future of safety in F1 © LAT

It seems obvious now, but one of the first lessons was that simply making shoulder straps wider reduced the risk of chest injuries. That was followed by special emphasis on how exposed the drivers were, which led to higher cockpit sides and head rests, with much research assistance provided by McLaren. Sadly, the team's own driver Mika Hakkinen was hurt in the last race of the 1995 season, just prior to the introduction of the higher cockpit sides and enveloping headrests.

Watkins agreed that the head protection had been the single most significant development up to 2004.