The much-ballyhooed Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend on the streets of Las Vegas has been immediately marred by a drain cover that appears to have damaged at least two cars and canceled the first practice session just minutes after it began.
Esteban Ocon of Alpine and Carlos Sainz of Ferrari both received damage by what is being described as a “loose manhole cover” or a “bump around a drainage ditch.” Several teams have reported underbody damage within the first 15 minutes.
Sainz slowed his car on the track between the Bellagio and Paris hotels on the famous Vegas strip due to the damage sustained by the literal bump in the road.
“We are checking the damage caused to Carolos’ car when he hit the manhole cover, which seems quite extensive,” Ferrari said in a statement.
Television cameras showed significant damage to the floor of the Sainz Ferrari. FIA stewards Garry Connolly and Derek Warwick immediately made their way over to the Ferrari paddock to inspect the damage.
Alpine will have to replace the chassis on the Ocon car.
The FIA, the governing body of Formula 1, confirmed the cause of the incident but has halted track activity to allow inspectors to check the remainder of the circuit for potential problems.
“Following inspection, it was the concrete frame around a manhole cover that has failed. We now need to check all of the other manhole covers which will take some time – we will be discussing with the local circuit engineering team about the length of time it will take to resolve and will update with any resultant changes to the schedule.”
On one hand, loose drain covers have disrupted previous sessions over the years. George Russell hit one in Azerbaijan in 2019, Jenson Button hit one in Monaco in 2016 and Juan Pablo Montoya ran over one in Shanghai in 2005.
On the other, the FIA requires tracks to pass an inspection at least one day before cars are on the track. But because the city streets were still partially open until late on Wednesday, inspection of this circuit was not completed until early on Thursday morning.
There are no other support divisions scheduled to race alongside Formula 1 this weekend so the second and/or third practice sessions could be extended to make up for lost time before qualifying on Friday. Second practice is set for midnight local time, 3 a.m. ET, so there is no given that second practice could even take place.
Those are the conversations that will be taking place alongside the track repair process.