F1 testing: Williams driver Nicholas Latifi spins out as car catches fire at Bahrain testing, team to return
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Updated 11/03/2022 at 14:21 GMT
Nicholas Latifi suffered a dramatic breakdown at Day 2 of testing at the Bahrain Grand Prix circuit, ahead of March 20's season opener. The Williams driver suffered a fire that forced him to spin out, which the team later confirmed was due to a fire from the car's breaks. The team confirmed they would return to testing on Saturday.
Nicholas Latifi
Image credit: Getty Images
Williams driver Nicholas Latifi had to abandon his car during testing at the Bahrain Grand Prix circuit due to a brake fire.
The 26-year-old Canadian was getting a runout at Day 2 of testing ahead of next weekend’s race, and it initially appeared that one of his tyres had caught light, and he attempted to guide his car back to the pitstop.
However he spun out and needed marshals to put out the fire before it became any worse, with the car ultimately removed by a crane so that it could be repaired.
It was not immediately clear if the team would be able to get back onto the track for the remainder of the session or the afternoon second period.
"Following a fire on Nicholas’ car, the team will assess the damage and look to understand the cause of the issue prior to any further running," Williams confirmed.
However ahead of the second session, Williams stated they would instead return for testing on Saturday.
Latifi’s team-mate Alex Albon had been optimistic about the state of the car moments before the fire.
"It feels pretty good," Albon said. "What we saw in Barcelona, everyone feels like they've bunched up a little bit.
I think everyone has done a good job on the cars and the gaps are tighter, which looks promising for the year.
"Coming from yesterday, just with the temperature and the wind, it has changed quite a lot of the feeling of the car from Barcelona. Also just purely on how bumpy it is here, it's a big difference, and you can tell these cars are running low and stiff here, much more than in Barcelona. It's been tricky, I've seen a lot of mistakes - I was making a lot of mistakes - and I think that's just the new era that we're in."
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