Nico Rosberg leads way Kevin Magnussen escapes fire in lively practice session

30 September 2016 04:53

Championship leader Nico Rosberg finished fastest in an opening practice session for Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix which was marked by Kevin Magnussen scrambling out of his car following an astonishing pit-lane fire.

Rosberg, who is eight points ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the title race, finished nearly half-a-second clear of his Mercedes team-mate at a sweltering Sepang International Circuit on Friday morning.

But Magnussen and his Renault team were the talk of the paddock after the Danish driver's car caught fire following an apparent fuel leak in the opening moments of the 90-minute session.

As Magnussen was being wheeled back into his garage, fuel started spilling out of his Renault before it dramatically set alight. Magnussen, the former McLaren driver, launched his steering wheel out of his cockpit before leaping out of his car.

His Renault mechanics acted quickly to extinguish the flames and thankfully nobody was injured in the incident - but with fuel still pouring out of Magnussen's car, the fire continued to burn.

As such, the session was red-flagged with the Enstone-based team attempting to pump fuel out of Magnussen's car while repeatedly extinguishing the flames. The vehicle and a section of the pit lane were subsequently covered in the foam used to eradicate the fire.

Unsurprisingly, Magnussen did not participate in any further running when the session eventually got back under way nearly 20 minutes later.

And it was Rosberg, who is bidding to secure his fourth consecutive victory, who posted the fastest lap of the session ahead of Hamilton, with the Ferrari duo of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel third and fourth - albeit one second adrift of Rosberg's fastest time.

Fernando Alonso, who was testing an updated Honda engine here, was an impressive fifth although the Spaniard will serve a 30-place grid drop following a number of changes to his power unit.

Jenson Button, set to start his 300th grand prix, finished 10th in the order while Jolyon Palmer, the British rookie in the sister Renault, was 19th.

Source: PA