Guenther Steiner has revealed that the Haas F1 Team has requested two fresh sets of tyres for Kevin Magnussen after an overnight fire in the team’s garage at the Sochi Autodrom.
The fire, which is thought to have started in the control box that manages the temperatures of the tyre, damaged one set of tyres that Magnussen was to use this weekend before damaging a neighbouring second set.
Steiner says the fire was detected and extinguished by guards at the circuit before it could spread further, and a formal request has been made to the FIA for two replacement sets to be allocated by Pirelli for the rest of the weekend.
“We don’t know what happened yet, because it’s all burned,” said Steiner to Motorsport.com. “And we cannot jump to a conclusion. 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.”
Steiner revealed that the tyre blankets were only on standby and were not turned up, insisting they were doing the usual process of warming up the tyres in the morning as in any other race.
“They were not used overnight,” said Steiner. “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.”
