Magnussen’s car engulfed in flame on first Malaysian GP Practice

F1 News – A bizarre fire on Kevin Magnussen’s Renault in the pitlane forced opening practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix to be red flagged on Friday morning.

Magnussen had completed an installation lap at Sepang before returning to the pits for a quick car check over.

However, as his car was being pushed back in to the garage, flames erupted from underneath the engine cover – with Magnussen being pulled out of the cockpit to escape the danger.

Despite marshals and team members quickly attending to the blaze with extinguishers, the fire refused to die down for several minutes – as fluid was seen pouring from the top of the engine cover.

With more and more fire extinguishers being used to keep the flames at bay, and the team moving to pump fuel out of the car, it was decided that the session needed to be red flagged.

Magnussen was unhurt in the incident but the car remained stranded in the pit lane for several minutes – and appeared badly damaged by the heat and extinguisher powder.

The session was stopped for a total of 15 minutes.

Category: Formula One