F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Fire raises 'interesting' Halo question - Magnussen

Kevin Magnussen says the need to jump out of his Renault due to fire raises an "interesting" question regarding the Halo device.

The Dane was required to quickly get out of his car after returning to the pits at the end of his installation lap, with a fuel leak causing the Renault to catch fire. Magnussen was out of the car within five seconds as he jumped out of the front of his cockpit - with the fire at the rear - and suggested the Halo would have slowed his exit beyond an acceptable amount.

"Personally I’ve never run the Halo so I’m not the best person to ask," Magnussen replied when asked if it would have been a different story if he had a Halo fitted to his car. "In my opinion five seconds is too long. If the car is on fire you don’t want to take five seconds. I don't know, it's an interesting question..."

With Magnussen's team radio telling him to get out of the car, he said he reacted to the smoke he saw and was out before the message reached him.

"No, I didn’t know [before the fire started]. Everything worked well on the car on the in lap, so just saw the smoke and hopped out.

"I was already out when they were talking [on the radio]."

However, Magnussen said he had no concerns getting back in the car for FP2, with Renault having an understanding of the likely cause of the fire.

"I kind of knew what caused it when it happened. We had some new parts on the car on the fuel system so…

"It's quite nice to know that the car is not likely to go on fire!"

FP2 REPORT: Hamilton hits back to lead Rosberg in FP2

Silbermann says ... Bugged by Liberty

Romain Grosjean exclusive column: Haas can build momentum for 2017

Chris Medland's 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix preview

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

Marko: ‘No chance at all’ for Red Bull in Las Vegas

Helmut Marko believes that Red Bull and Max Verstappen are unlikely to challenge for victory…

6 hours ago

GM revives bid to join F1 with accelerated talks for 2026 entry

Automotive giant General Motors is reportedly back in the game as a potential entrant in…

7 hours ago

Las Vegas GP: Thursday's action in pictures

The opening day of running at the Las Vegas GP was a smooth but chilly…

8 hours ago

Williams' headaches persist into Vegas practice

Williams is continuing to fight uphill battles this weekend in Las Vegas as a knock-on…

10 hours ago

Ferrari's Sainz 'not satisfied with where we are' in Vegas

It was a solid start to the Las Vegas weekend for Ferrari with Carlos Sainz…

11 hours ago

Norris labels McLaren long-run pace ‘shocking’ in chilly Vegas

Lando Norris didn’t hold back in his assessment of McLaren’s performance on the opening day…

12 hours ago