Heidfeld feels the heat as his wheelnut goes up in flames

(REUTERS)

Renault say a delay on a pit-stop caused by a problem with a wheel nut caused Nick Heidfeld's exhaust to overheat and set fire to his car yesterday.

After exiting the pits with bodywork smouldering, in the hope of putting the fire out, Heidfeld swiftly pulled over, the German jumping out as flames engulfed it. Chief race engineer Alan Permane says the problem caused the car to be "sat at high revs for a long time – this meant a build-up of heat which caused a fire".