McLaren reveal alternative plans after fire rips through damaged motorhome

McLaren hospitality fire.

McLaren will be using a temporary motorhome in Austria after a fire erupted last weekend – but hope to have their usual base available to them again before the summer break.

The team were forced to evacuate their motorhome on Friday after a fire broke out in the kitchen area but they have set a provisional timeline on when they will be able to use the building again.

McLaren hope to be back in hospitality centre before summer shutdown

Shortly before FP1, McLaren staff and guests were evacuated from their motorhome after an electrical fire broke out between the floors of the multi-level building. Whilst the blaze was initially tackled by staff and marshals, including Pirelli’s Mario Isola, local firefighters were eventually called into the paddock.

The damage to the motorhome was extensive, meaning McLaren had to make use of other team units and the FIA’s facility for the rest of the weekend and, while they will again be seeking temporary accommodation in Austria, the team have said they hope to have the motorhome back online before the summer break.

There are four races to go until then, beginning this week in Austria and ending in Belgium on July 28. McLaren will also hope to have the unit operational for Silverstone given it is the team’s home race but as to whether they will or not remains to be seen.

Speaking from the FIA’s hospitality unit, team boss Andrea Stella was keen to stress his appreciation for the efforts made by the whole paddock following the incident.

“Certainly the incident with the hospitality created a little bit of apprehension,” he told media including PlanetF1.com.

“Apprehension for our colleagues that initially seemed like they needed to have some care but actually, we were extremely relieved that there was nobody that needed any more than simply a check at the medical centre.

“From a practical point of view for a race team, some meeting rooms and having the food in the garage rather than in the hospitality was [the only] big impact in terms of execution of the weekend.

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“The factor that I would like to highlight is that the assistance, the solidarity, the sympathy, the support we received from each and every one of all the other teams, F1, the FIA.

“That gave us a genuine true emotion, like we were attached. I was talking with another member of the team about the sense of community that we had, that we have in this paddock and then sometimes we forget about it because we have to compete with each other.

“But I think when it manifests itself in this way, we should remember that’s the case and we should never miss an opportunity to give an example.

“So I would actually appreciate it if you can report that that’s the feeling of McLaren and the feeling of McLaren is we’re really impressed by the sense of community and the support that we have received and this has made the execution of the weekend more simple and we could keep our focus on racing because we were taken care of.”