Not the best initial showing for F1’s big race in Las Vegas.
Formula 1’s debut in Fabulous Las Vegas didn’t quite go as planned.
FP1 for the Las Vegas Grand Prix began on Thursday night at 11:30 p.m. EST due to the race being set for 1 a.m. on Sunday, and F1’s 10 teams didn’t get a lot of practice in, if any at all. The session was red-flagged shortly into the session when Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz hit an elevated manhole on the long straight going down the Las Vegas Strip. After the incident caused damage on Sainz’s car and forced him to pull off the track, the FIA immediately red flagged the session and canceled it shortly after.
Sainz wasn’t the only victim of the unsafe conditions on the Las Vegas street circuit. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon hit an elevated pothole and suffered damage to the car so bad that the team was forced to change his chassis. Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou also reportedly suffered damage from the same pothole.
While it’s currently unknown how F1 intends to respond to the cancelation, it’s possible that FP2 could be extended when it happens. The FIA said after the incident that all the other manhole covers must be checked, which they asserted would “take some time”.
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