F1 is finally back with its Marquee event for the season, the Las Vegas GP. Alas, the fans didn’t get much action in the first practice session after Carlos Sainz’s car was stranded on the track when a manhole cover hit the underside of his car. A red flag was waved and the session was canceled as the inspection of the track began. While fans who paid thousands of dollars to see the race didn’t get much action in FP1, they for sure will have an even harder time in FP2. But why? 

After the incident in the FP1 session at the Las Vegas Strip Street Circuit, the FP2 session was delayed by hours to secure all the manholes on the track. The fans who paid thousands of dollars for the tickets, travel and accommodation must’ve been waiting to properly see the cars on the track but that isn’t going to happen as F1 decides to close the fan areas for the FP2 session.

In an announcement made by the F1, it is advised that the fan areas will be closed at 1:30 AM PT and hence fans wouldn’t be able to access the area for the second practice. The announcement read, “Due to logistical considerations for our fans and our staff, we have made the determination that we will be closing all Las Vegas Grand Prix fan areas at 1:30 AM PT. We look forward to welcoming fans back later today for exciting F3 and qualifying sessions.”

Las Vegas GP Race Director’s Pre-emptive Actions Expose F1’s Incompetent Act After Manhole Fiasco

The high ticket prices for the Las Vegas GP were the issue raised by the F1 community. While it’s cruel to the fans, safety is a major concern and hence the session was delayed. Let’s have a deeper look into why the manhole cover came off and hit the floor of Carlos Sainz’s car.

Why did the manhole pop out and hit Carlos Sainz’s car?

A similar thing happened during the 2019 Azerbaijan GP FP1 session where George Russell’s Williams was damaged by a drain cover. While many people don’t think about it, at the end of the day, street circuits are made up of public streets. No matter how many cautions are taken, they’re not as safe as a conventional race track and will feature things like bumps and manhole covers. 

The reason for the cover popping up and hitting Sainz’s car and not a regular car is that the F1 cars produce huge amounts of downforce from the floor. Basically, the floor ends up sucking the whole car down toward the tarmac. But what happens if there is something loose on the floor? The floors end up sucking that thing up and that’s exactly what happened in Carlos Sainz’s case as well. 

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Ferrari has been tipped to capitalize on the long straights on the Las Vegas track. So, Sainz would want to get back on track to get some valuable insights as soon as possible. What do you think of Sainz & Leclerc’s chances at the first Vegas race in 40 years?