Marshals at Macau GP - fire safety

[Skydragon]

I watched some the Macau GP on TV over the weekend and on every occasion there was an accident the group of ‘marshals’ surrounding the car on track were all wearing short sleeved shirts and trousers

There would have undoubtedly been a full rescue crew on hand, fully suited etc, but surely it can’t be right that the barrier marshals are dressed like that. How could they even use a basic fire extinguisher properly, or get anywhere near a crash on fire, without a suit?

Surely this can't be in line with FIA safety rules etc ?

[lord summerisle]

while i agree to a certain extent. its worth noting that in the UK, marshals are simply wearing a single layer proban suit - which in all reality provides very little additional protection against fire - they may be resistant to fire, but not fire proof in the same way a triple layer racesuit is.

The basic training on dealing with fire being - if you can feel the heat, your too close! (a few marshals will sometimes have a Nomex balaclava on, but they are very few and far between...) and extinguishers will work very well from a good 10-15ft back.

I dont think there are *any* rules as such for marshal's wear. more or less every UK marshal wears orange overalls - for the simple reasons that A) its a bright colour, B) it doesnt clash with any of the flags (Silverstone marshals, i think, are the only ones who wear overalls that are mainly black, with orange flashes - dont know the history behind it tho.) and C) wearing overalls means your not getting your clothes dirty.