F1 - Fire breaks out in Williams Garage

[Guy Fawkes]

Fire breaks out at Williams | Williams F1 Team News | Formula 1 Teams | Sky Sports

 

[Poyetry In Motion]

Was it you Mr Fawkes? C'mon, own up!

 

[Gazwag]

What do you expect when you try and blow out 70 candles on a cake

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

Sorry to hear about this incident and hope the injuries are not serious, especially on such a great day for Williams F1. Seems a bit dodgy to allow the high voltage Kers systems to be allowed so close to a highly volatile F1 fuel store and within in a confined space.

I know they don't have the re-fuelling pit stops anymore but still find it a bit scary to see the scantily clad mechanics and punters wandering about in the pits and on the open balconies immediately above, yet the cars are being routinely refuelled. Plus I noticed the number of punters wandering around in the pits and paddock while smoking, certain tracks seem to have a very relaxed attitude about this but is putting the safety of everyone at risk. Maybe this incident will refocus everyones attention. The relaxed approach might be a bit more understandable if the pits were covered by sprinklers, as suggested elsewhere on here.

 

[Gullflyinghigh]

Thankfully it appears to have caused no real damage (to people, probably safe to assume that a fair bit of technical stuff is now beyond salvage), shame to have it happen after winning their first race in years, especially as it was won well.

(and Alonso got on the podium, which is easily the safest regular bet I do, result all round)

 

[amexee]

F1 - Fire breaks out in Williams Garage
Started by Guy Fawkes‎, Today 17:57


hehe

 

[ben andrews' girlfriend]

1 guy has serious burns, 3 others still in hospital. Looked like quite a fire.

 

[Falkor]

20mins for fire team to get there, WTF serious questions need to be asked

 

[Falkor]

Be interesting to see the consequences for the Spanish GP there are serious big men in teams that are very upset about yesteday esp the response by the emergency services.

Hope Bernie comes down on them like a tone of bricks.

Hope the chap with the Burns makes a good recovery.

What a mixed day for the williams team. The image of Maldonado running away from the fire with his nephew just shows that

 

[maltaseagull]

Have they blamed Hamilton yet?

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

Have they blamed Hamilton yet?

Hamilton to drop 5 grid places for being in the pit lane area at the time the fire started - "must of been him" says Clerk of the course.

[water?] sprinklers in a pit lane to deal with a fuel fire ?

 

[stimpy]

Such a shame after what should have been a great day for a great team

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

Hamilton to drop 5 grid places for being in the pit lane area at the time the fire started - "must of been him" says Clerk of the course.

[water?] sprinklers in a pit lane to deal with a fuel fire ?

Don't assume 'water' sprinklers, could be something more appropriate such as a water/foam/air mixture depending on what deals best with the exotic chemicals in the fuel for the race cars. I notice in the absence of an immediate response by the track firefighting team the mechanics and by-standers were wading in with dry powder (good for a quick knock down of a fuel fire) and CO2 (good for electrical fires) extinguishers but neither have any significant cooling effect on the numerous gas cylinders or other fuel stocks lying around. Lucky it didn't spread more rapidly into other pits.

In Indy racing when they used methanol as fuel in the cars this burned without a visible flame but can be extinguished with water. Not unusual to see the rather odd sight of mechanics excitedly throwing big buckets of water around in the pits, over each other, the drivers and the cars - this was the reaction to an invisible methanol fire. Quite scary. I think they use something less volatile these days.

Also the volumes of plastics and composite materials in the F1 pits would make the smoke very toxic so not a great idea to linger without respiratory protection. Loads of questions about the response by the track firefighting team. A handy reminder to review arrangements at all tracks.