British Formula One team McLaren’s hospitality suite at the Spanish Grand Prix has been evacuated after a fire broke out.
Fire services arrived on the scene shortly after 12:00 local time with smoke emerging from the building at the Circuit de Catalunya outside of Barcelona.
British driver Lando Norris was among those evacuated as the blaze broke out less than an hour before final practice.
![Fire services attended the scene shortly before midday local time](http://image.assets.pressassociation.io/v2/image/production/60fe3ddc737d74ae584fbd9b5a34deabY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzE5MTQwNzg3/2.76611588.jpg?w=640)
A McLaren spokesperson confirmed all team members had been evacuated safely.
A short statement read: “This morning we evacuated our Team Hub paddock hospitality unit following a fire alert, the team has been safely evacuated while the local fire brigade handle the issue.”
It is understood four fire marshals were assessed at the track for smoke inhalation, with two of those then taken to a local hospital for further assessment.
McLaren’s hospitality suite in the paddock evacuated following fire. Emergency services on the scene. #SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/m037oqwTIj
— Philip Duncan (@PhilDuncanF1) June 22, 2024
McLaren CEO Zak Brown was seen outside the two-levelled suite as final practice started as scheduled.
Two hours on, emergency crews were still working to bring the fire under control. The Pirelli and Alpine buildings, which flank McLaren’s hospitality suite, were also evacuated.
Norris, 24, finished second in the concluding running before qualifying later on Saturday.
![McLaren CEO Zak Brown outside McLaren’s hospitality suite](http://image.assets.pressassociation.io/v2/image/production/408cc31b965bf3f66e942a8f378a1d89Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzE5MTQ0MzI5/2.76612302.jpg?w=640)
Norris trailed Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz by just 0.030 seconds with Charles Leclerc third, only 0.037 sec adrift of his team-mate. Max Verstappen took fourth spot as George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finished fifth and sixth respectively for Mercedes.
Leclerc drove into Norris on the run down to turn seven as practice drew to a close, with both drivers summoned to the stewards after the session.
Hamilton also faces a stewards’ investigation after he banged wheels with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll at turn five.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here