McLaren reached out to Formula 1 rival Red Bull to help it through the remainder of the arduous current ’triple header’ sequence of grands prix.
In Barcelona, the start of a hectic three-week tour through Spain, Austria this weekend and Silverstone just another week on, McLaren endured an electrical fire in its grand paddock ’motorhome’.
“I’m up in the engineering office instead,” Lando Norris explained after qualifying in Barcelona, “and Oscar (Piastri) is down in the truck below. And that’s Zak (Brown)’s office that I’ve taken over.
“But it’s not the end of the world, so I’m not going to complain about it.”
The facility is now completely out of action and will not be at the Red Bull Ring or at the team’s home British GP either, leaving McLaren urgently seeking a back-up plan.
Red Bull is well known for having a couple of the similar ’motorhome’ solutions in its arsenal, as well as similar facilities for its other motorsport and sporting activities.
“They asked us,” Red Bull team consultant Dr Helmut Marko revealed to Kleine Zeitung newspaper ahead of the Austrian GP – a race the energy drink-owned concern promotes at its own Red Bull Ring.
“Unfortunately we couldn’t help them out because we are using the Energy Station and hospitality at the MotoGP at the same time,” he added.
“I don’t know what they’re doing now.”
However, McLaren boss Andrea Stella admitted that many rival F1 teams helped the team through the Spanish GP weekend after the fire broke out.
“I would like to highlight the solidarity, helpfulness and support that we received from every single team, Formula 1 and the FIA,” he said. “We were impressed by this sense of community.”
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