(Las Vegas) Embarrassing situation for the return of Formula 1 to Vegas: the Las Vegas Grand Prix has a complicated first day after a problem with a loose manhole cover during the first tests on Thursday evening, considerably delaying the rest of the festivities .
At the dawn of a nighttime Grand Prix announced to be spectacular in the heart of the iconic Strip – and considered the most anticipated race of the season – the first laps of the single-seaters hardly went as planned.
And for good reason: the first free practice session was stopped after only ten minutes on Thursday evening due to a poorly secured manhole cover.
Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari stopped after driving at full speed on the cover of a manhole, triggering the red flag from the stewards, a few minutes before the organizers announced the definitive end of this initially scheduled session For one hour.
Following this incident, officials announced that each of the manhole covers on the urban circuit would have to be checked for safety reasons.
A decision which delays the rest of the day, since free practice 2, the second and last session of the day initially scheduled for midnight local time (3 a.m. Eastern time), will be at least 2 hours 30 minutes late depending on the latest information from race management.
They will also last 90 minutes instead of the normally scheduled 60.
Following this incident, Ferrari boss Frédéric Vasseur appeared furious to the press: “the car is completely damaged, its engine, its battery”, he asserted, deeming the situation “unacceptable”.
“It’s costing us a fortune. We will not participate in Trials 2, that’s for sure,” he also confirmed.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff lost his temper – for reasons very different from those of his French counterpart – after a journalist’s question about “the stain” represented by this failed start to the Grand Prix.
“It’s not a stain or anything. It’s only Thursday, we haven’t finished the first test session, they’re going to seal the manholes and we’ll have forgotten everything tomorrow,” the Austrian leader said.
“Whether it’s on the FIA side or the circuit side, everyone needs to analyze how to make sure this doesn’t happen again, but talking about a stain on the sport on a Thursday night… no one looks at it on time European anyway,” he added. The session was interrupted around 11:40 p.m. Eastern time.
In addition to Sainz, Alpine announced that its driver Esteban Ocon also suffered damage and had to change the chassis of his car.
A similar incident took place in 2019 during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix when the car of Briton George Russell, then at Williams, hit a manhole cover, causing the first tests to be stopped.
For the big return of F1 41 years after the last race in the gaming city, the traditional Grand Prix will take place on Saturday night (10 p.m. local time).
