Simon Galloway/Motorsport Images
First Vegas practice called off for track repairs
The opening of the Las Vegas Grand Prix has been thrown into turmoil after first practice was called off just nine minutes into the hour, owing to unsafe track conditions.
Free practice had only just got up and running when Carlos Sainz appeared to strike a loose drain cover down the long Strip straight.
The Spaniard’s car suffered a significant hit, with onboard replay footage showing a significant vibration at the moment of impact before the car switched itself off.
Sainz was able to park his car by the side of the road and walk back to his garage uninjured.
Other videos showed the car had taken serious damage, including a destroyed front section of the floor and a potential suspension failure.
The car was recovered by a flatbed truck for inspection by the team and FIA technical staff, with race control calling off the session shortly afterwards.
The governing body said it would have to undertake a new inspection of the circuit before confirming what had gone wrong and undertaking any necessary rectification work.
A yellow flag had already been thrown at that part of the track shortly before Sainz’s accident.
Esteban Ocon, who was a way ahead of Sainz on the circuit, afterwards reported damage to his car too, with a loose drain cover also Alpine’s suspected culprit.
The French team said it will need to change his chassis before the next session.
Mechanics were seen checking their cars for damage after the session was called off.
Sainz’s teammate, Charles Leclerc, topped the session with a lap of 1m 40.909s, but no-one set more than five laps in the nine minutes before the suspension.
Logan Sargeant was the only driver not to get out on track in the time available.
Michael Lamonato
Having first joined the F1 press corps in 2012 by what he assumed was administrative error, Michael has since made himself one of the few Australian regulars in the press room. Graduating in print journalism and later radio, he worked his way from community media to Australia's ABC Grandstand as an F1 broadcaster, and his voice is now heard on the official Australian Grand Prix podcast, the F1 Strategy Report and Box of Neutrals. Though he'd prefer to be recognized for his F1 expertise, in parts of hometown Melbourne his reputation for once being sick in a kart will forever precede him.
Read Michael Lamonato's articles
Latest News
Comments
Comments are disabled until you accept Social Networking Cookies. Update cookie preferences
If the dialog doesn't appear, ad-blockers are often the cause; try disabling yours or see our Social Features Support.
