Shock Williams triumph nearly turns to tragedy with garage fire

It's one of the truly great feel-good stories of F1, one of those races you look back now at and think: 'How on earth did Pastor Maldonado win a grand prix?'

Well, the short answer is, by truly deserving it and having his day of days, at the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix.

The Venezuelan has copped something of a bad reputation as a crasher after some what has to be said were some lackadaisical crashes, especially for Lotus in 2014 and 2015, but on his day, Maldonado was a genuinely quick driver. 

Evidence for that comes through the fact that he qualified second, on merit for the Barcelona race, out-qualifying the likes of Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, and Jenson Button, with Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher not making a Q3 run to save tyres.

Only Lewis Hamilton was ahead, but he was promptly kicked out by the stewards for not having the required fuel sample left in the tanks of the McLaren, stopping on his in-lap and being disqualified. It handed Maldonado Williams' first pole since Nico Hulkenberg's 2010 effort in Brazil. 

But the race was not a gimme, either. Alonso overtook Maldonado at the start, and so began a game of leapfrog over the first-half of the race, with Maldonado pitting on Lap 25 to force Alonso's hand from the lead.

Williams undercut the Ferrari, and then, after another straight-forward stop, eased to an emotional victory as the team celebrated founder Sir Frank Williams' 70th birthday.

It would be the final race Ginny, Lady Williams would ever attend, as she passed away in March 2013 from cancer.

The article continues below. 

Fire breaks out

As Williams celebrated its 114th race win and first since Juan Pablo Montoya at the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix, a fire broke out in the garage about 90 minutes after the chequered flag.

The source of the fire was Bruno Senna's car, which was being drained of fuel. A spark, potentially from the KERS unit ignited the bowser draining the machine, sparking the blaze.

Maldonado carried his 12-year-old cousin away from the fire, the child having suffered a broken foot, with Sir Frank also evacuated in his wheelchair as members from other teams tried to extinguish the fire, which was producing thick smoke.

The fire was eventually brought under control with nobody killed, although some serious injuries were sustained, including one mechanic with 40% burns to his body. 

Williams lost all its IT and other equipment, but was able to run a smooth operation at the enxt race in Monaco as other teams chipped in to lend support where it could.

To this day, the 2012 Spanish GP remains Williams' most recent win, although the team are on the up under James Vowles' leadership, with drivers Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz scoring double points at the last four races in 2025.

The team had not achieved that since the first five races of 2016.