'Lucky escape' in Sochi after Haas garage fire

A fire in Haas' garage destroyed two sets of Kevin Magnussen's tyres, but a "lucky escape" saw no further damage, or injuries, caused. Haas team principal Guenther Steiner said the team suspected that tyre blankets had caused the blaze, but insisted his team had not been at fault.

The fire broke out on Thursday at the Sochi Autodrom, believed to have started in the electronics for a set of tyre blankets, which ruined two sets of Magnussen's tyres.

A security guard spotted the fire and it was extinguished before any further damage could be done.

Steiner told Motorsport.com: "I don't want to put any panic on to what actually happened, because we don't know.

"I think one security guard saw it, and then they all worked together to extinguish it.

"A lucky escape, and it's good that they worked together and caught it, because if tyres go on fire they are difficult to extinguish."

When suggested that the fault may have been caused by Haas leaving the tyre blankets turned up overnight, Steiner was unequivocal.

"They were not used overnight," he said. "They were plugged in, otherwise there would have been no fire, but they were not turned up. They were just on standby.

"Now we'll have to unplug them at night. What they do normally is just come in in the morning and switch them on, everything is cabled up."

Pirelli chief Mario Isla confirmed that Haas had been supplied with replacement sets of tyres, in agreement with the FIA.

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