The Formula 1 adventure in Las Vegas began with the problem of manhole covers

The American adventure of Formula 1 began, as so many times before, with a hard blow when the first practice session was almost destroyed due to damage caused by drain covers.

The long-awaited start of the Las Vegas Grand Prix ended after just eight minutes. Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari broke down after apparently hitting a drain.

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon also crashed into a loose manhole cover. Sainz suffered a concussion before the stop. His delay caused the red flag to be waved and the training session to be cancelled.

Up to 100,000 fans were expected to be at the new Strip track, although there were some empty seats as F1 looks to make a bigger push into the US market.

“THE SOURCE OF FAILURE HAS BEEN UNDERSTOOD”

An FIA spokesperson said:

«Upon inspection it became clear that the failure was due to the concrete structure surrounding a manhole cover. Now we need to check all the other manhole covers and this will take some time. “We will discuss with the local engineering team how long the fix will take and update the timeline on any changes.”

BOOING SOUNDS FROM TRANSLATIONS

The second training session is expected to start at midnight local time, but there is no guarantee on this.

Some fans paid $185,000 (£150,000) for the privilege of being there and the setback left F1 bosses red-faced.

Fans booed from the stands when the race was stopped.

GREAT DAMAGE TO SAINZ’S VEHICLE

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner discussed the situation with his Ferrari colleague Fred Vasseur on the pit wall.

After Sainz crashed into the sewers of Sin City’s famous Strip at 200mph, Ferrari confirmed that the Spaniard’s car suffered significant damage.

Only five laps could be completed in front of the crowd.

A similar incident occurred in 2019 at another street circuit, Baku, Azerbaijan, and in 2016 in Monaco, where Jenson Button had problems with the drain cover.

“IT’S A SHAME THAT THEY LET US GO ON THE TRACK”

Red Bull team boss Horner had this to say about the interruption:

“It’s a shame they don’t let us on the track. They will have to check all the manhole covers and weld them or something because you can see the damage they have done. We are all good. “So far we haven’t seen any damage.”

“They have to be flexible. It’s a big shame for the fans, but safety comes first. “We have to do this right and hopefully it won’t take too long.”