McLaren issues statement as fire breaks out in team's motorhome

McLaren issued a statement addressing a recent fire at their motorhome during the 2024 F1 Spanish GP. They assured that all the team members were safely evacuated.

Ever since the upgrade package at the 2023 F1 Austrian GP, they have been on an upward trajectory. In 2024, they continued to close the gap to Red Bull and fight the Ferraris for the second spot in the championship. With the help of their major upgrade package in Miami, Lando Norris was able to win his first-ever F1 race.

McLaren arrived in Spain with a positive mindset. Norris topped the timing sheets in the first practice session at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Friday. However, the team experienced an unusual hiccup right before the start of the third and final practice session.

On Saturday morning, a fire broke out in McLaren's Team Hub unit. As per reports, the fire first broke in the area right above the hub's kitchen.

According to Motorsport.com, Pirelli's head of F1 Mario Isola, who is also a part-time paramedic, was one of the first to arrive at the scene and assisted others with fire extinguishers. Soon, a fire engine with several firemen rushed inside the motorhome and safely evacuated guests, team members, and others.

A few minutes before FP3, McLaren officially released a statement explaining the situation and how the team members and other guests were safely evacuated.

"This morning we evacuated our Team Hub paddock hospitality unit following a fire alert, the team has been safely evacuated while the local fire brigade handle the issue," the statement read.

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Lando Norris reckons McLaren needs to improve on 'smaller things' to start challenging Red Bull

Lando Norris recently talked about how McLaren could close the gap to Red Bull and challenge them.

Speaking to the media during the 2024 F1 Spanish GP, he feels his team is close enough to start focusing on smaller incremental improvements to challenge Red Bull.

He gave the example of the Canadian GP, where his team could have pitted him early for him to be in a stronger position to fight for the win against Max Verstappen. Norris said (via PlanetF1):

“It's not a huge amount, like it's small things, it's just like split seconds of decision making and understanding."

"Montreal was a fairly, although it's quite simple, it was also a fairly difficult decision with what the weather was doing and changing. So it wasn't as simple as just saying, at the time we've easily made the wrong decision. Those things we definitely could have and should have done better and we should have boxed all of those things,” he added.

Lando Norris is currently third in the drivers' championship table with 131 points. Max Verstappen continues to lead the table with 194 points.