Fire destroys Lotus hospitality unit

The Lotus hospitality unit at the Malaysian Grand Prix has been destroyed in a fire.

It is thought that the fire started due to a faulty fridge fuse.

The entire catering, PR and marketing departments have been affected, as well as the drivers’ rooms. It is thought that the race suits and boots belonging to Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean were saved!

Stephane Samson who is head of team marketing and communications said: “There was a fire in the hospitality unit due to the failure of a fridge fuse, with the whole hospitality and kitchen destroyed. Thankfully a security guard was able to save the drivers’ race suits which are currently being dry cleaned as they were affected by smoke. They were a bit smelly. Everything else has been lost – a couple of laptops, along with everything required to carry out our marketing and PR this weekend. The comms team are maybe going to try to work in the media centre, certainly for this morning at least.”

The Mercedes’ and Ferrari hospitality units were also affected by smoke.