Chaos Ensues At Las Vegas GP As FP1 Is Cancelled

Posted on November 17, 2023 | by Charley Williams Well, that wasn’t how we expected the first practice session in Las Vegas to go! ???? If you missed it, don’t worry, you didn’t miss much – FP1 was cancelled after under 10 minutes of actual running. Crazy.  F1 has landed in Las Vegas for the first time in 41 years, and the anticipation for this weekend’s grand prix has been building for well over a year. Despite some pushback against the ‘pageantry’ of it all, many fans were excited to see cars drive along the Vegas strip. But the hype didn’t last too long. Barely 10 minutes into the session, a yellow flag appeared, but the reason was unknown from initial broadcasts. As Carlos Sainz passed the yellow, it seemed he had bottomed out against something, which killed his engine. He stopped on track at the final sector, and a red flag was thrown. Replays looked like the Ferrari had struck something on the track to cause significant damage. The FIA said they were investigating “an issue with a drain cover” and announced the FP1 session would not be resumed. Since then, they have confirmed that it was the “concrete frame around the manhole cover that has failed” and are now checking every other manhole cover on track. Esteban Ocon also sustained damage from the manhole cover, and Alpine confirmed that they had to change his chassis. Interestingly, the FIA requires tracks to pass inspection at least one day before cars are on track. Because of last-minute finishes and the track not being closed to traffic until late last night, the inspection of Las Vegas was not completed until early Thursday morning, but it did pass ???? Fingers crossed we get to see FP2!