In Sweden I had been surprised to find a caravan as the medical centre, but here at a sophisticated circuit with so many permanent and excellent buildings including a hotel the medical centre was a converted bus! It was a single-decker provided and equipped by a volunteer organization and, being mobile, was used for other sporting events elsewhere as required. It was well equipped with the usual resuscitation, ventilation, and defibrillation facilities, and it was air conditioned and connected to mains power. Ideally, there would have been anaesthetists and surgeons on hand but here there were only two doctors to staff it, neither of whom was an anaesthetist. The medical crew camped, slept and cooked alongside the bus which was parked out in the paddock.
Dr Bernd Adami, a gastrointestinal specialist, was the Chief Medical Officer. He and his team were upset and bitter at the lack of help and consideration from the circuit and the club, particularly in providing sufficient passes for the medical team. Thus, on the first practice day there were only four doctors and one medical student. On the second practice day there were nine, and on race day there were ten. But in order to achieve this I had to insist on getting extra passes. Evacuation by helicopter was by the Autobahn helicopter response and Dr Adami told me that delays of up to forty-five minutes could occur if the helicopters were busy elsewhere. Adami had had to man one of the ambulances himself because of the shortage of doctors during practice. But on race day the final insult was perpetrated by his being refused admission to Race Control. He was told that there would be sufficient liaison between the medical team and Race Control and myself through Mr Langford [JRS note: Robert Langford, then the F1 Safety Delegate]. During the dispute, Dr Adami was roundly chastised and insulted by a lady who also dispensed hospitality as well as abuse.
This was just before the actual preparations on the grid, and it was at this stage that I enlisted Bernie Ecclestone’s aid. His response was that unless Race Control agreed with my proposal he would get the drivers out of the already assembled Formula One cars on the grid and we would all go home. The shocked authorities replied, ‘If you do that, what are we going to do with this huge crowd of German people waiting to watch the race?’ Bernie responded that they could all perform a certain act in somewhat impolite terms. He then turned to me and said, ‘I’ll go down and stand in front of the grid. If things are OK, put your thumb up. If not, I’ll get the drivers out of the cars.’ There was no resistance or even discussion after that, and the parade lap started on time. As a result Dr Adami and I observed the race from Race Control; but at the end of the event Bernd and his whole team said it was unlikely that they would agree to come to Hockenheim ever again. And they never did.
