The Barcelona pit and paddock was evacuated just hours after the race when the Williams garage was engulfed in flames following a suspected electrical fault.
The flash fire took hold of the garage as members of the team were celebrating Pastor Maldonado’s race win with team principal Sir Frank Williams, who was immediately rushed from the scene.
Smoke filled the whole pit lane as engineers from several teams rushed to the garage with extinguishers to help dampen the flames.
A member of the Williams team spoke to Sky immediately after and described an explosion, which reportedly came from a fuel rig at the rear which was possibly ignited by an electrical fault.
“We were celebrating with Frank and suddenly there was a big explosion, a wall of warm air and everyone just ran.”
Emergency services arrived on the scene in a matter of minutes, but the damage had been done with much of Williams equipment, including Senna’s car, badly damaged in the incident.
A total of nine injuries have been reported, four from Williams, four from Caterham and one from Force India. One employee was airlifted to hospital, whilst the other eight have been treated in the on-site medical centre.
Force India tweeted the following: “Thanks for your best wishes to the team member who bravely went to fight the flames. He is being checked out in the circuit medical centre.”
Caterham released the following statement: “All the team’s employees have been accounted for and four people have been taken to the circuit medical centre for examination; one with a minor hand injury and three with respiratory issues.”
Williams added: “After today’s Spanish Grand Prix a fire occurred in the team’s garage which originated from the fuel area.
“Four team personnel were injured in the incident and subsequently taken to the medical centre. Three are now receiving treatment at local hospitals for their injuries, while the fourth has been released. The team will monitor their condition and ensure they receive the best possible care.
“The team, the fire services and the police are working together to determine the root cause of the fire and an update statement will be released in due course.
“The Williams F1 Team would like to thank all of the teams and the FIA for their support in today’s incident.”
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