Renault investigates fire in Magnussen's R.S.16

More fear than harm in the clan RenaultMore the fire which struck the R.S.16 of Dane Kevin Magnussen at the start of the first free practice session earlier this morning in Malaysia remains under investigation. The French team, however, believes it has found the beginnings of an explanation.

“We had a fuel leak from a vent valve, explains Nick Chester, technical director of Renault Sport F1 Team on the F1 website. It appears the tank was under pressure, but we will investigate.

We were operating with a full tank and testing some experimental elements in preparation for Mexico. Different set-ups therefore from Jolyon Palmer's car.

Everyone is fine, that's the main thing. Fortunately, the car doesn't seem to be too damaged so we will try to prepare it for FP2. There's obviously a bit of work to be done, but we'll try to get it on track as much as we can in the session. »