Fuel fire prompts Ferrari probe

Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari team have promised a thorough investigation into the refuelling fire during his cruise to victory in the Austrian Grand Prix at the A1-Ring.

The German triumphed despite the fire when petrol in the hose ignited on the bodywork of the F2003-GA in yesterday’s race at Spielberg.

Schumacher was unfazed by the incident, the first refuelling fire in the pit-lane since Eddie Irvine’s Jordan briefly ignited in Belgium eight years ago.

The spectacular – if non-life-threatening incident – will reignite the debate whether refuelling, which returned to Formula One in 1994, should continue.

But Ferrari’s technical director Ross Brawn said: “It is never pleasant to have a fire. But there was not actually that much fuel around and it looked worse than it was.

“We do not usually have problems with the rigs and now we will have a proper investigation to find out what happened.

“This is a technical issue and we will have to sit down and go through what happened step-by-step with FIA (motor sport’s world governing body).”

A spokesman for FIA said: “Preliminary checks suggest the fuel problems were caused by a very small accumulation of fuel in the car connector. The source of the ignition is not yet known.”