The Las Vegas GP has had a very complicated debut in Formula 1. After unrealistic ticket prices and chaos for the city’s inhabitants, this Thursday an incident occurred that could have caused a tragedy. During the first practice of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, one of the drains on the track opened when the car of Carlos Sainz, a Spanish driver for the Ferrari team, passed over it.
At that moment, sparks began to fly due to the damage that the car suffered.
Fortunately, Sainz did not suffer any injuries, although the cost to the Ferrari team for what happened to the car will be enormous. As a result of what happened, the FIA had to suspend the first practice for something embarrassing.
Manhole opens during Las Vegas GP
In summary, the first day of the Las Vegas GP could be described as a disaster after what happened on the street track. To the surprise of thousands of fans, the first practice session was canceled after just nine minutes of activity when Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari hit the loose manhole cover. Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur described the situation as unacceptable. The second practice session began two and a half hours late in front of nearly empty stands after the fan areas were closed.
Formula 1 said the decision, made at 01:30 local time, was due to “logistical considerations for our fans and staff.” There was no mention of whether fans would receive refunds. One difficulty for organizers is that most of the tickets sold were three-day packages, so any refund for a single day would require a calculation on how to divide the value of each day. Esteban Ocon’s Alpine was also damaged, as was Sainz’s Ferrari, losing a chassis, after hitting the same manhole as Sainz when returning to the pits after the red flag.
When the track sessions finally ended, Charles Leclerc led Sainz by 0.517 seconds in a Ferrari one-two, followed by Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Red Bull’s Checo Pérez.
The controversy surrounding the Las Vegas GP
Formula 1, which acts as the promoter of this Grand Prix, has spent more than $600 million in preparations for the race. This included the purchase of land in Las Vegas, on which he built the largest pit building on the F1 calendar and prepared the track. The pit building will become a permanent property for F1 in Nevada City. Hosting a Grand Prix in Las Vegas is the result of 40 years of on-and-off efforts and has been successful thanks to the backing of casinos, who hope to win millions of dollars and see the race as part of Las Vegas attempt to become a global center for sport.
However, although F1 built the track, the responsibility for checking its safety fell to the governing body, the FIA, which did so before practice began. However, the closure of streets to finish the work has caused the city’s inhabitants to become fed up and the workers threatened to go on strike.
This story was written in Spanish by Miguel Fernandez in Cultura Colectiva News