Gran Premio de España Santander 2012

[reppo]

http://www.crash.net/f1/news/179671/1/b ... arage.html

BREAKING: Fire breaks out in Williams garage

A major flash fire broke out in the Williams garage area on pit lane, sending smoke billowing over the Circuit de Catalunya and F1 personnel fleeing into the paddock area.

A major flash fire took hold of the Williams garage area as the team was celebrating its Spanish Grand Prix victory in Barcelona.

A KERS-related issue was suspected, with witnesses describing an explosion at the rear of the garage area near where the fuel was stored.

Witnesses saw flames before acrid smoke started to billow out of the garage area. Neighbouring garages included those of Caterham, Force India and Sauber were also involved in the emergency, but the fire did not appear to have spread outside the immediate Williams area.

A number of fire engines started to arrive on the scene within minutes, and the fire itself appeared quickly put out by fire extinguishers as members from all F1 crews ran to the assistance of the Williams team.

Sir Frank Williams was seen being safely removed from the garage at the onset of the fire, and race winner Pastor Maldonado and his family were also confirmed safe.

The main concern was smoke inhalation, with no one immediately reported as injured by the fire itself. At least one mechanic was reported to have been removed by ambulance to hospital.

All F1 personnel and media staff were ordered out of the pit lane area as police arrived to take charge of the scene.

It's unknown what damage was done, but some reports said that considerable damage had been done to equipment. One car was reported to have been destroyed, which may have been the race car driven by Bruno Senna if it had been returned to pit lane after retiring early in the race.

However, most of the race cars would still have been held under parc fermé conditions elsewhere on pit lane.

More details to follow when known.

[cformula1]

Wow, shocking news, hopefully no serious injuries

[Zack]

Bad news..

Heikki Kovalainen ‏ @H_Kovalainen

Couple of our guys got injuries, burns and maybe one broken wrist, no news on Williams guys I hope they're ok

[phil1993]

Here's how it started

[MavF1]

I'm always surprised by the number of people/idiots trying to go towards the incident just to FILM it.

this is media... a lots of journalists are risking their lifes in order to not loose their jobs. from the outside it looks like a nice profession but sometimes is much more dangerous than to fight on the front line in a war

Plenty of people being pushed out who clearly were not press photographers. Just people with pit passes.

Gazers. Disgusting.

[donald29]

From Heikki:

Couple of our guys got injuries, burns and maybe one broken wrist, no news on Williams guys I hope they're ok

Sky have gone off air.

[eleanor]

I'm always surprised by the number of people/idiots trying to go towards the incident just to FILM it.

this is media... a lots of journalists are risking their lifes in order to not loose their jobs. from the outside it looks like a nice profession but sometimes is much more dangerous than to fight on the front line in a war

Plenty of people being pushed out who clearly were not press photographers. Just people with pit passes.

yeah, that's stupid...

@phil, how can you still be tweeting after hitting the limit?

[phil1993]

Its 1000 over 24 hours. So it's an ever changing limit

[Zack]

5LiveF1 So several team members at the medical centre, 4 from williams and 1 from Force India

[phil1993]

Let's hope all okay.

[MavF1]

Holy s***, it really must've been an explosion rather than the fire starting slowly....
Oh, I fear the worst. The box was packed...

[sleenster]

Wow that is scary I hope everyone is ok...

[JoostLamers]

OMG what a nightmare!

[phil1993]

It was a massive fire that spread quickly. It wasn't a slow one.

[Edi96]

hopefully no one ist seriously injured. And hopefully Williams has a good insurance.