Triumphant Pastor Maldonado ends the day a hero

The image of the day was all set to be Pastor Maldonado, Formula One's unheralded Venezuelan, hoisted on to the shoulders of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen after sealing Williams's first victory in eight years.

Instead it involved him bearing his 12-year-old cousin, foot in a protective boot following a recent accident, away from the scene of a blazing fire. Young Manuel was still clutching Pastor's race trophy in his mitts.

It was an extraordinary end to an extraordinary weekend. As the team assembled, still doused in champagne, for a victory address from team principal Sir Frank Williams 90 minutes after the race had concluded, the whoops of joy turned to alarm.

A fire, thought to have been caused by a fuel rig which exploded as it was being prepared for transportation, had broken out at the back of the garage, filling it with black smoke.

In the melee that followed, which saw neighbouring pit crews help out before ambulances and fire engines arrived, four Williams staff, four from Caterham and one from Force India were treated for injuries. Fortunately no one was seriously injured.

Williams later said that three of their staff had been flown to local hospitals for treatment.

While the response to the incident was impressive, it nevertheless took the gloss off one of the more remarkable race weekends of recent times.

Maldonado's victory was the first by a Venezuelan and the first for a Williams driver since 2004.

The 26 year-old had started on pole following Lewis Hamilton's exclusion from qualifying after a fuelling issue on Saturday, but no one had seriously expected him to be able to hang on.

Maldonado has been written off in some quarters as a 'pay driver', who was only in the team because he reputedly brings in around pounds 30?million a year from Venezuelan oil company PDVSA.

Bookmakers were offering 300-1 on him before qualifying. And even if he could keep his nose in front for a while, Williams would surely fail, as they have so often in recent years.

Maldonado, it seems, is made of sterner stuff than we had imagined. And Williams's revival is apparently for real.

This was an impressively mature win in which Maldonado barely put a wheel out of place, fending off home favourite Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari before pulling away towards the end of the 66 laps. There has bee plenty of debate about the new Pirelli tyres, but this was a great advertisement for the new style of racing.

Alonso gave hope to Ferrari's long-suffering fans by pushing hard for victory on a similar three-stop strategy to Maldonado. Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen nearly hunted them both down by making his third stop later and utilising the fresh rubber to great effect.

Wherever you looked drivers were on the charge or falling back in dramatic fashion. Hamilton survived yet another pit-stop scare, in which he drove over the edge of a wheel which had just been taken off his car, to charge through the field and finish eighth having started 24th.

Mercedes' Michael Schumacher rammed into the back of Maldonado's team-mate, Bruno Senna. The German wound up in the gravel and later called the Brazilian an "idiot".

The stewards did not agree, awarding Schumacher a five-place grid penalty at the next race in Monaco. As for the unfortunate Senna, his car was burned to a cinder in the pits.

The day, though, belonged to Maldonado. "The car was competitive from the start," he beamed. "I was able to manage the gap and control everything."

Not that Sir Frank, who was honoured with a surprise 70th birthday party in the paddock on Saturday, was getting carried away. "The English don't get emotional," he claimed while all around him the tears and champagne gave the lie to that statement. "I'm quietly delighted."

He was fooling no one. Even for a man who has overseen nine constructors' titles and seven drivers' titles, this win - the 114th since he founded the team with Patrick Head in 1977 - was special. The delight it prompted in the paddock at large illustrated the affection in which his team is held.

Last season was the worst in Williams's history but the change this term has been startling. Head has retired from the race team and Williams have a new engine supplier in Renault and a new engineering team, while their chairman, Adam Parr, resigned in mysterious fashion in March. Whatever they did, it seems to be working.

"Boy did we need that win," Williams admitted. "As for Pastor, he deserves to be in the team, with or without the dosh."