Williams team thanks Formula One rivals after fire drama

Mark Gillan, chief operations engineer at Williams, grateful to Force India and Caterham for quick response to fire that injured 31 people after Spanish Grand Prix.

Racing team crews try to extinguish a fire in the Williams racing pit stand at the Circuit de Catalunya yesterday. Josep Lago / AFP

Mark Gillan, the chief operations engineer at Williams, extended the team's gratitude to their Formula One rivals for their help in dealing with yesterday's garage fire in Barcelona.

Following Pastor Maldonado's victory, Williams were celebrating a first grand prix win since 2004 when a blaze started in the pit area.

Staff from other teams, including those of Force India and Caterham, helped Williams get the fire under control as black smoke billowed out of the garage.

The FIA confirmed in a statement that 31 team members were seen by circuit medical centre staff, the majority for smoke inhalation, with 24 released.

Seven, however, were transferred to a variety of local hospitals for treatment, one from Williams in particular for severe burns, understood to be to 40 per cent of his body.

Gillan today thanked everyone involved in the emergency response for their efforts.

"On behalf of Williams, I'd like to thank all of the team members from other teams for their helped during the fire," Gillan told www.autosport.com. "We were overwhelmed by the support. It was really impressive.

"Williams would like to say thanks to the teams, the FIA, FOM and all of those who came to help. It was a serious issue and I am very grateful indeed.

"What happened after a great result is very disappointing, but things were limited by the fast response of our team and everyone who helped."

Gillan expects Williams to be back up and running at the Monaco Grand Prix next week, despite losing plenty of equipment yesterday.

"We had a lot of damage and we have lost a lot of equipment, including IT equipment," said Gillan. "Over the next couple of days we will be looking at where we are parts-wise.

"We will have everything we need to run operationally at Monaco, but we may be missing a few of the extras because obviously we don't carry a complete set of spares for everything."

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