Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene doesn’t do uncool as a rule, but even he could not avoid looking a little foolish after ambling into the path of an oncoming Formula 1 car

during first practice

in Austria.

The silver-haired Italian obviously had other things on his mind – the car of Sebastian Vettel was in pieces in the garage at the time – as he hopped down from the Scuderia pit wall, looked left up towards the pit exit but not right towards the entry.

Which was a bit of an oversight to say the least.

As Arrivabene stepped down, the Williams of Felipe Massa came steaming out of his pit box. The two were on a collision course before both slung out the anchors.

Modern F1 brakes being what they are, the Williams – and a bemused Massa – came to a near instant halt, while the Italian stallion rapidly gathered his hooves under him and skittered backwards out of harm’s way.

A glance was shared between the two men, Arrivabene’s appearing to say: “Yeah, that was pretty dumb. Sorry mate.”

The 58-year-old was at least able to claw back some of his trademark cool as he proffered a Fonzie-like thumbs up to Massa as the Brazilian got back on the gas.

Once back

in the pits 

, Massa and Arrivabene could afford to share a joke about their near-miss.

Although it’s fair to assume the Ferrari chief will be getting a reminder from the powers-that-be – should he need one after a scare like that – to take extra care in one of the most dangerous environments in sport.