Las Vegas GP hit by familiar problem amid safety concern at F1 race | F1 | Sport

As its third Formula 1 event got under way, organisers of the Las Vegas Grand Prix experienced an unwelcome feeling of deja vu when a familiar issue reared its ugly head. Thankfully, no cars were destroyed this time, but valuable practice time was lost on Thursday night because of a loose manhole cover.

The first edition of this glitzy event, back in 2023, was marred when a chunk of metal was sucked out of the floor by the intense forces generated by the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. That saw the first practice session cancelled after just eight minutes, and the second hour of running that day delayed by two hours while repairs were carried out.

While not quite so damaging or farcical this time, it was a reminder that this event, the one Formula 1 bosses will become the modern-day crown jewel of the calendar, still has teething problems.

The first hour of practice went off without a hitch, Charles Leclerc topping the timesheets which showed an unusual order, with Alex Albon second quickest in the Williams and under-pressure Yuki Tsunoda third, a rare occurrence of the Japanese racer being quicker than team-mate Max Verstappen.

Lando Norris restored a more familiar result by topping the times in FP2, though the last 20 minutes of the session never allowed for rivals to try to topple him. The red flags came out without any obvious explanation, until FIA officials went out on track and stopped their trucks just before the final corner of the Strip Circuit.

A spokesperson for the governing body confirmed: “Following a marshal report of a possible loose manhole cover before turn 17, race control were unable to confirm this information from the CCTV available. The session was red flagged as a precautionary measure and race control personnel are currently on site assessing the situation.”

After a short delay, it seemed they were satisfied that all was okay because the order was given for the session to be resumed and cars wasted no time at all before heading to the end of the pit lane, eager to get back on track and complete their qualifying simulations. But they never got the chance.

“Following inspection, we are confident everything is in a suitable condition to resume the session,” the FIA had said. They were wrong.

Because there were less than three minutes left on the clock when the panels dotted around the circuit began to flash red once more, again with no obvious reason like a crash. Sure enough, it was that same manhole cover.

The FIA spokesperson added: “Some race control personnel remained on-site when the session was restarted. They reported that the manhole cover was moving as cars passed over it, which led to the session being ended under red-flag conditions. Further inspections are underway.”

There is now plenty of time for that loose cover to be sealed ahead of third practice and qualifying on Friday night in the desert. Assuming that removes all jeopardy, no harm will have been done to any car or driver, but the situation was perhaps a small blow to the race organisers who are trying to paint a picture of a matured event, but who clearly still have a way to go.