Video: spectacular fire of the Williams of Latifi in Bahrain

Everything seemed to be running smoothly on the second day of pre-season testing in Bahrain, but an anomaly at the rear of Nicholas Latifi’s Williams disrupted the morning.

Cameras quickly focused on the FW44 due to smoke billowing from the rear of the car, and when many at first thought it was an engine problem, fire began to erupt from both of the British single-seater’s rear brakes.

The Canadian driver tried to return to the Grove garage, but when crossing the line of the third sector, he lost control of the car and ended up spinning and in one of the loopholes on the Sakhir track.

Latifi had to escape quickly and as he could from the cockpit as the flames increased, but he had no more problems than the red flag caused by his Williams.

The stewards were slow to come out to help put out the fire in the British car, which caused the high temperatures to burst one of the tires (the left rear). This generated a moment of tension , since one of the commissioners in charge of providing a fire extinguisher was located very close to the explosion of the rubber.

Video: the fire at Latifi’s Williams at the 2022 F1 Bahrain test

After many minutes of red flag, the truck in charge of transporting the car back to the pitlane arrived at the area. The mechanics, together with the stewards of the Middle East track, loaded the FW44 onto the truck bed so that the Grove crews could start working on the repairs as soon as it reached the pit lane, although their day is quite compromised after the spectacular fire.

It seems that the suspensions, rear spoiler, tires and the rear bodywork are the areas most affected by the flames generated by the brakes. The image was even more spectacular due to the new hubcaps that keep the elements responsible for braking the car closed.

Williams decided to put Latifi up for this Friday test at Shakir, although the Canadian’s filming will be limited, if he can go out again, to the afternoon session, while Alexander Albon will wait for his turn for the last day of preseason.

Gallery: this was the fire of Nicholas Latifi with the Williams in the Bahrain tests

Nicholas Latifi, Williams FW44, for after the fire in his car