Second practice for the Las Vegas Grand Prix has been delayed by two hours due to safety concerns over drain covers on the Las Vegas Strip Circuit.
Thursday’s opening practice session was abandoned after just over eight minutes of running soon after Carlos Sainz Jnr struck a loose drain cover at a speed of over 300kph along the long Strip straight, causing severe damage to his car.As the session was swiftly red-flagged, several other cars passed through the scene of the incident, with many drivers reporting debris. Under the red flag, Esteban Ocon then struck the same hazard at 220kph, later being informed by race engineer Josh Peckett that his car’s floor had been “pretty badly damaged” from the strike.
After the cause of the problems became clear, FIA race control announced first practice would not be resumed and a full check of all other drain covers around the circuit would immediately be carried out. With second practice scheduled to begin at midnight on Friday morning and a hard cut-off of 4am local time for all track activity, this circuit-wide check immediately brought the scheduling of second practice into question.
The FIA confirmed that the concrete frame surrounding the offending drain cover along the Strip had failed. The governing body also directed all 10 teams to check their cars for damage and stated that there had been no issues raised from the previous night’s high-speed track test in which the Safety and Medical Cars completed multiple laps of the street circuit at speed without incident.
In a joint statement with the FIA, Formula 1 confirmed that a ‘single water valve cover’ along the Strip had failed and would evaluate whether changes to the race weekend schedule would be necessary. However, as the original second practice start time approached, the FIA announced that the second practice session would be delayed until an unspecified time. It was later announced that there would be a delay of “around two hours”, taking the likely session start time to on or around 2am local time, before the FIA formally confirmed that second practice would officially commence at 2am.
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The FIA also confirmed that second practice session would be extended to 90 minutes in length in an attempt to make up for the lost time earlier in the evening. The complication remains of the cut-off time of 4am for the track to be closed to roads can be reopened for local traffic, leaving zero margin for any further delays.
It is not the first time in recent Formula 1 history that loose drain covers have caused major disruption during events on temporary street circuits. The opening practice session of the 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku was abandoned when George Russell’s Williams was heavily damaged by a loose drain cover along the back straight approaching turn four.
In 2017, Haas driver Romain Grosjean suffered a high-speed crash at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia when a loose drain cover caused suspension failure during a Friday practice session. A similar problem also occurred during practice at Monaco in 2016, leading to front wing damage to Jenson Button’s McLaren, while Rubens Barrichello’s retirement from the 2010 Monaco Grand Prix was blamed on him losing control after one of his rear wheels ran over a loose drain cover.
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2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix
- Tost blames track inspection oversight for Sainz’s damage in Las Vegas
- Hard to repeat “rare” combination of factors behind Vegas shunt – Norris
- Las Vegas Grand Prix “got a lot more hate than it deserved” – Sargeant
- Williams’ “incredible” Vegas qualifying made us “poor” in race – Vowles
- Piastri is first rookie to take two fastest laps in a season since Hamilton
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
17th November 2023, 7:25
You love to see it. Liberty deserve everything from this.
Ben
17th November 2023, 7:59
+1 It’s made my Friday! I hope the whole thing gets called off.
Adrian Hancox (@ahxshades)
17th November 2023, 8:50
Both of you should be ashamed – have you so little in your lives that you revel in others failure – pathetic comments. Unfortunately its the negativity like this that ruins what used to be an interesting comments section with insightful statements and responses.
I pity the pair of you.
Dkor (@dkor)
17th November 2023, 9:23
Agreed, and thanks for speaking up. Comments like the above have me shaking my head.
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
17th November 2023, 9:25
@ahxshades @dkor
Reported you both for personal attacks.
Dkor (@dkor)
17th November 2023, 9:42
Sure, whatever dude.
Adrian Hancox (@ahxshades)
17th November 2023, 9:48
Bless
Zann (@zann)
17th November 2023, 9:49
aren’t they your accounts?
ben
17th November 2023, 9:55
Maybe question why others have a different opinion to you before resorting to personal attacks @ahxshades
The main reason I want the event cancelled is due to massive safety concerns. They rushed through the pre-race circuit checks and it’s come back to bite them. Firstly I’m happy no one was injured & secondly I’m happy that they didn’t just get away with it and it’s become a huge talking point.
Hopefully they have to pay Ferrari, Alpine and any others who were effected by the poor circuit conditions. Secondly I hope they do a report into this and actually learn from it.
I’m always confused by people who comment personal attacks on a comment they didn’t think was valuable. Do you seriously believe your comment has added value?
Adrian Hancox (@ahxshades)
17th November 2023, 10:16
Nicely walked back
ben
17th November 2023, 10:34
@ahxshades
No walk back. I’ve been commenting similar things for months, if not years in regards to other tracks too (saudi) Maybe not jumping straight to name calling because you disagreed with something someone said on the internet would be advised in future.
I assume you have no answer and now regret being childish. Oops. Anyway, enjoy your weekend, maybe treat yourself to a quarter yard of ale or something
kpcart
17th November 2023, 11:15
grow up, people are allowed oppinions, especially about this ridiculous event for money over sport.
Imre (@f1mre)
17th November 2023, 7:29
They should move FP2 to tomorrow afternoon local time. Shortened 30 minute track familiarization session. Then extend FP3 to 90 minutes.
Imre (@f1mre)
17th November 2023, 7:30
If they can close the roads by then…
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
17th November 2023, 7:46
Makes a mockery of whatever tests they actually did. Also explains why traditionally, a track does a test event before F1 rocks up. I’m afraid a SC and a Medical Car do not cut it for real track action.
i luv chicken
17th November 2023, 7:56
That used to be the rule, Not any more.
PacificPR (@streydt)
17th November 2023, 8:55
Nope, doesn’t cut it at all. Curious to see how and if the FIA is gonna be able to guarantee the teams and drivers it won’t happen again.
Steven Williamson
17th November 2023, 9:21
All the car damage needs to be excluded from the cost cap.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
17th November 2023, 7:47
Well, 99% of the event will be fine.
Imre (@f1mre)
17th November 2023, 7:54
Shortening practice sessions makes it 99.2% of the event.
baasbas
17th November 2023, 8:24
@red-andy
Touché
Tony (@tony667)
17th November 2023, 9:05
Nailed that one:)
Jim
17th November 2023, 8:25
If only they’d have put as much effort in to the actual race track as they did showbiz crap before. America is bad for F1…tacky entered the room.
CarWars (@maxv)
17th November 2023, 8:32
the celebs didnt even show up yet so nothing to see here, all ok.
Tristan
17th November 2023, 8:41
2 hours? 10AM tomorrow…
Tristan
17th November 2023, 8:46
Ah I get it, 10AM English time.
SteveP
17th November 2023, 14:18
There are a few other places in that time zone, and a number of them don’t speak English as a first language, so it’s better labelling it UTC (approximately)
F1 Stats Fan
17th November 2023, 8:45
“The governing body also directed all 10 teams to check their cars for damage and stated that there had been no issues raised from the previous night’s high-speed track test in which the Safety and Medical Cars completed multiple laps of the street circuit at speed without incident.”
High speed test in “Safety and Medical Cars” – the same safety car that goes full speed with the F1 drivers behind falling asleep, frequently saying the safety car goes to slow.
Sure the Safety and Medical Cars are perfect to test the quality of the race track – they generate maybe 20% of the force an F1 car does certainly when it comes to drain cover the suction force a F1 car generates is off the charts.
With new tracks and FIA inspection – the FIA should have 1-2 of their own F1 cars and use those to run 20-30 laps to discover potential problems.
thegamer23
17th November 2023, 8:59
Bring back Mugello
joe jopling (@jop452)
17th November 2023, 9:02
Drivers doing the 2nd session will be starting at 5am local time…meaning they will have been up all night…know they are young and super fit…but that is where errors can happen
Tommy Scragend
17th November 2023, 10:57
They won’t be doing anything on track at 5am local time – as the article says, there is a 4am cut off time for all track action.
But in any case, I should imagine everyone is keeping to European time throughout the event, like they do for the other night races such as Singapore. So they will be sleeping during the day and coming out at night.
PacificPR (@streydt)
17th November 2023, 9:14
Think it will be 2am local time when they start – but it will be 3:30am when they are done (that is if nothing goes wrong). So a valid point. I think the drivers are probably more up to it than the officials and mechanics – equally or maybe even more important with regards to safety.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
17th November 2023, 9:52
This is complete madness isn’t it. They should have just abandoned FP2 and had a longer FP3. Apparently now I have just read that all spectators must leave by 1.30 a.m. local time!
mrbigshot
17th November 2023, 9:40
Also, I can’t imagine having F1 cars zoom by your hotel room at 2 AM is going to be very popular.
Postreader
17th November 2023, 10:12
People are being expelled from the grandstands now. Complete clownery all around.
David
17th November 2023, 10:16
Interesting that the official F1 media outlets (socials/youtube) have done ZERO updates on FP1 or FP2.
Pretty clear where Liberty’s interests lie. Media management learnt from the regimes that bought there way into F1 under Bernie’s watch.
RR
17th November 2023, 10:24
Excuse me, Grosjean didn’t need a loose drain cover to make him crash.
SteveP
17th November 2023, 14:21
Possibly being pedantic, but there’s a driver on the grid with a record of crashes. To the extent he picked up a nickname starting “crash-“
kpcart
17th November 2023, 10:43
Sucked in liberty F1 and USA. Unacceptable. there have been numerous manhole incidents in f1 over the years, you would think a brand new track would have that sorted as a priority before being ticked off as completed.
dot_com (@dot_com)
17th November 2023, 14:15
But at least they nailed the circus pre show ceremony, which is really what matters. The track condition and safety of the drivers, really minor details in the grand scheme of things.
Khürt Williams (@khurtwilliams)
17th November 2023, 16:36
Will you be refunded if you’ve paid for a full package that includes access to free practice?