Thread: Williams garage fire

Originally Posted by SteveA

The car in this picture has not been damaged by fire, even the hydraulic reservoirs are intact.

Remarkably that does indeed appear to be the case:

Originally Posted by Mark Gillan

"We had a lot of damage and we have lost a lot of equipment, including IT equipment," said Gillan. "Over the next couple of days we will be looking at where we are parts-wise.

"We will have everything we need to run operationally at Monaco, but we may be missing a few of the extras because obviously we don't carry a complete set of spares for everything."

Initial inspections of Bruno Senna's car, which was in the garage when the fire erupted as it had not finished the race, suggest that the chassis is undamaged.

Source: Williams thankful to rivals for help with garage fire in Spain - F1 news - AUTOSPORT.com

BBC Sport - Williams change pit procedure after Spanish Grand Prix fire

The show must go on. Well done everyone.

Turns out the tub was the only part of Senna's chassis that was recoverable. Quote from Mark Gillan in the article Knock-on linked above: "...on [Bruno Senna's] car we lost pretty much every metallic component, due to corrosion." ...from the extinguishant presumably.

During practice this morning the Sky commentators were talking about whether the engine needed to be replaced, and if so, whether it would count against Bruno's engine allocation. Some speculation that it might have already been removed from the car and packed away before the fire. Anyone heard any further info on that?

Originally Posted by AndyL

Turns out the tub was the only part of Senna's chassis that was recoverable. Quote from Mark Gillan in the article Knock-on linked above: "...on [Bruno Senna's] car we lost pretty much every metallic component, due to corrosion." ...from the extinguishant presumably.

I've seen badly corroded circuit boards after a building fire - especially any equipment that was fan-cooled and running at the time of the fire. Also you get lots of steam when the fire brigade start pouring in water, and that gets into everything and causes more damage.

Originally Posted by SteveA

Also you get lots of steam when the fire brigade start pouring in water, and that gets into everything and causes more damage.

When I accidentally set fire to my garage a few years back (don't ask) the water did more damage than the fire itself had until that point.

Originally Posted by call_me_andrew

I was uner the impression that Williams uses a flywheel based KERS instead of an electric system.

OT but OT if you get what I mean.

See here;

Williams wins at Le Mans! «

Originally Posted by SGWilko

OT but OT if you get what I mean.

See here;

Williams wins at Le Mans! «

Quality from Williams who now seem to be building a more commercial and varied platform to their business.

Originally Posted by seppefan

Quality from Williams who now seem to be building a more commercial and varied platform to their business.

That's been there for quite some time, but perhaps it hasn't generated the publicity that a Le Mans win generates.

Dont forget that Williams helped design and develop the Metro 6R4 rally car many years ago, the Renault Laguna touring car and more recently the Formula 2 car. Their core business has always been, and will always be, F1 but their skills have been applied elsewhere. It's one of the reasons some of us have been relatively confident about their future.

Add in the BMW V12 LMR to that list as well.

And a Clio as well

Originally Posted by Knock-on

And a Clio as well

Just the one?

Nicole, Papa?

Originally Posted by ArrowsFA1

Their core business has always been, and will always be, F1 but their skills have been applied elsewhere. It's one of the reasons some of us have been relatively confident about their future.

Indeed. It also explains why, when so many midfield and lower teams have disappeared or been bought out, Williams have survived with their finances in the black despite their rather drastic drop-off in performance in recent years.