Officials from Formula One had to deal with one of the most embarrassing days in the recent history of the sport when they had to finish practise for the highly anticipated Las Vegas Grand Prix at four in the morning in an empty arena.
With only eight minutes remaining in the first running of the £500 million race, which had been anticipated for months, it was called off.
After irate fans were ejected in accordance with local laws, the second practise was postponed for two and a half hours and took place in front of empty grandstands.
Charles Leclerc of Ferrari led the pack, followed by Max Verstappen in sixth place and Lewis Hamilton in ninth. However, the event, which F1 executives referred to as the “greatest show on earth,” had already taken a dramatic turn more than seven hours earlier.
At 210 mph on Las Vegas Boulevard, a water valve cover ripped off from the freshly laid tarmac and smashed into Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari’s undercarriage.
Sainz was visibly startled in the cockpit by the impact’s force, which also rendered his machine inoperable amid a burst of orange sparks and white smoke.
The session was red-flagged by race director Niels Wittich, but not before Esteban Ocon collided with the wreckage. Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin’s on-board video showed the 42-year-old narrowly avoiding the loose drain cover.
It was announced at 8:49 p.m., eleven minutes later, that practise would not resume.
Sainz and Ocon both managed to escape unharmed, although their vehicles sustained significant damage. When Sainz’s Ferrari was hit by a massive puncture, his mechanics had a difficult task ahead of them. Moments later, team principal Frederic Vasseur showed up for a scheduled press conference looking enraged.
He declared, “We totally destroyed the engine, battery, and monocoque.” “It is simply not acceptable.”
The original plan was for second practise to begin at midnight. However, it was delayed while the 1.2-mile Las Vegas Boulevard, which is flanked by the Bellagio, Venetian, and Caesars Palace hotels, had all 30 of its drain covers inspected.
