F1-Live.com

Sharp Liuzzi protects his assets

Sat, 24 Oct 00:58:58 2009

One of Tonio Liuzzi's first tasks after crashing heavily during the qualifying rain at Interlagos was snatching back his stolen steering wheel.

When the Force India driver finally emerged from his shattered car during the Brazilian Grand Prix's qualifying session, he tried to put the steering wheel back in place only to see a cheeky marshal dashing away with it.

While television cameras happened to beam the images around the world, the Italian promptly called down the Sao Paulo marshal and relieved him of his new piece of memorabilia.

Auto Motor und Sport said the steering wheels - featuring digital read-outs and numerous buttons, controls and levers - are worth up to €30,000.

"The team has said to me: 'no matter what happens, never let the steering wheel leave your hands'," Liuzzi said.

 

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  1. Actually Walking Quiet, I am writing this to you from­ the Internet Cafe at the site of the accomodation for­ the Abu Dhabi marshals. The food is OK, as is the­ accomodation, but you should know that this uses the­ vacated workers huts in the so called Occupational­ Village (OV) When some of my colleagues arrived, the­ huts, shared by up to four guys, were dirty and­ contained bare matresses or in some cases no furniture­ at all. The guys here have worked hard to make this­ accomodation liveable, it is better than a tent but not­ as good as the cheapest Uk motel.

    The food is average­ and plentiful, make of that what you will. In the­ evenings we eat in a car park under a big roof.

    I am­ not complaining - it is an amazing venue and we are­ having a good time - but don't get the idea that we­ are living it up in 5 star luxury!

    From MARCUS, on Sat 31 Oct 3:49PM

  2. So, it's not the thieving spectators you have to­ worry about eh?

    From markrose260, on Mon 26 Oct 4:47PM

  3. Now another nice thing of being a marshall is to steal­ the steering wheel, which is worth quite a lot of­ money... hahaha.

    From ferraribeng, on Sun 25 Oct 2:48PM

  4. #4: Walking quiet,
    Officially, the marshal are not­ paid. They are volunteers. However, I believe they are­ given some sort of allowance as compensation for the­ time they offered. Apart from the actually duty on the­ race weekends, they are expected to go for training­ prior to the race weekend for several days. It means­ they have to take leave from their work for quite a few­ days. I had wanted to volunteer as a marshal for the­ Singapore GP, but having to take so many days leave­ from work is one of the reason for stopping me.

    One of­ the nice thing of being a marshall is being up close­ and personal with F1 in action.

    From ferraribeng, on Sun 25 Oct 2:47PM

  5. Amazing headline - I thought Luizzi was protecting his­ other assets from the grabby marshall - nice to know­ what really happened.

    From Futchi, on Sat 24 Oct 9:26AM

  6. I saw this go down in qualy, didn't think much of­ it first but I do know that after a crash the cars have­ to have their wheel put back to be able to steer the­ car after the driver has been taken out. I didn't­ think the marshall was going to run off with it. Pretty­ funny if that crossed his mind!

    From toeknee, on Sat 24 Oct 6:42AM

  7. Generally marshalls don't get paid, at least in the­ UK they dont..
    Those marshalls going to Abu Dhabi will­ not get paid, but I bet they get great food &­ accomodation for a few days.

    From Walking quiet, on Sat 24 Oct 6:17AM

  8. slimy marshall, i guess they dont get paid well.
    jean­ todt, hike their wages or lots of car parts will be­ stolen and put up on ebay!!

    From San, on Sat 24 Oct 5:57AM

  9. I wondered what that was all about; now I know. Would­ Mallya take it out of his check? No doubt.

    From larsonrc41, on Sat 24 Oct 4:00AM

  10. Good on ya Tonio.

    From Tony, on Sat 24 Oct 3:15AM
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