Williams Garage Fire

[Crabbia]

What about the one where it was triggered by the self destruct feature of the winning ticket for the Perelli lottery.

+1.

that seems the most plausible imo. they probably forgot to store it properly in their garage after the recieved it.

[ESPImperium]

Williams Fuel Filler post fire:



via Adam Cooper on Twitter.

[mx_tifoso]

I wonder how many other garages or parts of the building were affected, and what consequences they will have on other upcoming events.

[pocketmoon]

You have to be at the top of your game mentally to be part of an F1 crew. All that selection and training is aimed at F1 racing, not fighting fires.

I worry that the courage, teamwork, quick thinking, action and commitment that is inherent in these guys is dangerous in these situations. It's asking too much of them (although they are willing to give).

Thoughts ?

Rob

[Speedster]

Well... Fire is always a danger in a sport where petrol, and now batteries, are an integral part of the game. In that sense, until the whole pit area of every race is covered by sprinkler installations, a basic fire fighting training is part of the job I'm afraid, as one cannot expect the emergency services to be everywhere in a few seconds.

With basic fire fighting training I mean a training on how to use fire extinguishers, how to efficiently evacuate a garage (if possible taking flammable things out of the danger zone). They were left on their own though, in this instance. The emergency services took way, way too long to arrive and that needs attention, because while I think it is vital for an F1 team to have a rudimentary fire fighting capability, we cannot expect them to hold out for 15-20 minutes like yesterday, even though they did.

[ESPImperium]

Caterham have reported some damage to some of their gear, but that damage was minor as Caterhams main gear is situated in the middle of their garrage in order for their wifi to be most effective. Some of their gear has been smoke damaged, but thats easily repairable and isnt a total loss. Most of the teams are now doing things more McLaren eske in the middle of the garrage with the drivers having no specific side, its better for the team morale wise.

However Toro Rosso have a simmilar situation, however they were seen running into the pits with key parts and tool boxes that are full of equiptment that isnt easily replaced in a hurry.

Williams are seemingly struggeling logistically as the fly rig that was at Bahrain wont be back in time for Monaco and the fly rig that will be in Canada just left last week via sea. This was their Euro rig, and its a more or less total constructive loss.

McLaren have offered as much help as they can, however the team have lost many mechanisms that have been built up over many years, some of those mechanisms have only one program that was developed by one data engineer just to make him do his job most effectivly and was only one lap top that is now destroyed.

The team have all the data from the cars however.

Its the IT infrustructure side of things that Williams will struggle to be efficient in Monaco. The team may have lost specific bits and piecies as well that arnt as easily replaceable as well hardware wise.

However it could be a great way for the team to get better IT infrustructure both hardware and software wise.

[Th0R]

i can't really belive that software parts are gone. Everything someone develops will be stored on a server somewhere. There is always the possibility that a hard drive fails ...

[Harvey]

McLaren have offered as much help as they can, however the team have lost many mechanisms that have been built up over many years, some of those mechanisms have only one program that was developed by one data engineer just to make him do his job most effectivly and was only one lap top that is now destroyed.

The team have all the data from the cars however.

Its the IT infrustructure side of things that Williams will struggle to be efficient in Monaco. The team may have lost specific bits and piecies as well that arnt as easily replaceable as well hardware wise.

However it could be a great way for the team to get better IT infrustructure both hardware and software wise.

Seriously!? You think a top flight engineering organisation that has decades of experience and has just floated on an international stock exchange doesn't know what your average school kid knows, to back up your work in multiple places? I refuse to believe that any IT problems will come of this, apart from maybe the damage caused to the drivers screens and their respective custom frames/cases - and that's merely a logistical problem, that can be solved by handing your driver a laptop instead of the fan containing, cup holding dual screens of late. Replacement laptops could've been bought from PCWorld this afternoon, not that difficult to sort out.

In all seriousness, what could possibly have been damaged so irreparably that it could not be replaced within the fortnight to Monaco? A fuel rig? Surely their supplier could knock up a replacement this week, if not borrow one from another team? The only thing I can think of that could even approach being irreplaceable (in this time frame) would be any aerodynamic sensor array that they use on Fridays. But then, the next race is Monaco; is that kind of data acquisition as valuable on this circuit?

[GrizzleBoy]

I agree completetly that a F1 team with no data backups is an unfathomable thought.

I do wonder though, if any expenses incurred will affect their development.

[ArchAngel]

What about the one where it was triggered by the self destruct feature of the winning ticket for the Perelli lottery.

+1. that seems the most plausible imo. they probably forgot to store it properly in their garage after the recieved it.

Right after news of the fire broke out, I was all ready to joke about the incident being an attempt to 'destroy evidence.' I decided it wouldn't be too humorous after all when word got out that quite a few people were seriously hurt and required medical treatment.

...All that selection and training is aimed at F1 racing, not fighting fires. I worry that the courage, teamwork, quick thinking, action and commitment that is inherent in these guys is dangerous in these situations. It's asking too much of them (although they are willing to give). Thoughts?

Pretty much my sentiments from several posts ago.

Had the fire been electrical in origin, or had the explosion/fire exposed high voltage/current hazards inside the garage, mechanics & other team personnel who are untrained in fire-fighting and ill-equipped to deal with the specific fire (yet were over-eager to rush in & help out, bless them) could've been seriously hurt, even fatally injured.

Make no mistake -- those guys were nothing less of heroic for risking their lives to help another team in distress. But it's quite possible that some of those hurt are folks who rushed in headlong without the necessary skills & equipment to deal with the emergency, and only ended up getting hurt for being in over their heads.

[jason.parker.86]

Stupid question but why don't the garages have sprinklers installed?

[noname]

Stupid question but why don't the garages have sprinklers installed?

Maybe because you can not use water to extinguish any fire?

[myurr]

Stupid question but why don't the garages have sprinklers installed?

Discussed earlier in the thread.

[thearmofbarlow]

Stupid question but why don't the garages have sprinklers installed?

Maybe because you can not use water to extinguish any fire?

You can have overhead extinguishers that don't use water.

I don't find it hard to believe that they lost extensive amounts of software. Even in the most anal of backup environments it's possible to lose things. Scripts, macros, spreadsheets of all kinds can be kept in directories or on drives that for one reason or another aren't regularly backed up. Sometimes the IT guy doesn't get his hands on every piece of hardware a company uses. One person will bring their own laptop and end up using it for their work. It can happen, easily.

[hollus]

I thought I'd share. It looks like Miguel Sanz, Spanish sports newspaper Marca's usual F1 journalist was IN the garage as the fire broke out. He gives a nice first hand account of it.

It is in Spanish, ask for translations of some passages if needed.

http://www.marca.com/2012/05/14/motor/f ... 93627.html