Las Vegas GP: Leclerc on top of bitesize FP1 as a drain cover fails

The first free practice session ended prematurely with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, after eight minutes, as his teammate Carlos Sainz retired out on track with suspected problems from a drain cover.

When the lights went out, the majority of the field peeled straight out onto the Las Vegas circuit to get their bearings. Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll were the first drivers to head out onto the Nevada circuit, under the lights.

A number of drivers started to put in lap times while others blasted around to do some track cleaning. However, the teams and drivers were soon hindered by a yellow flag down the latter end of the iconic Las Vegas strip. It was quickly revealed that Sainz had stopped out on track.

The stranded Ferrari out on track resulted in a red flag being waved early on. Replays showed that Sainz had hit a bump down the strip which immediately sent a message to the Spaniard’s steering wheel to stop the car.

The FIA were straight out once all the cars returned to the pit lane to look into the possible problems and it was suspected that a drain cover was the problem. As a result of on-track repairs and safety concerns for the drivers, race control informed that the session would not resume.

In an update by the FIA, the sports regulator said:

“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.”

With a premature end to FP1, this meant Leclerc topped the timing boards ahead of the two Haas’ of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen in second and third, respectively.

It was also revealed that Alpine had been forced to change the chassis to Esteban Ocon’s car after suspected damage from, potentially, another drain cover out on track.

That’s all for the article; Las Vegas GP: Leclerc on top of bitesize FP1 as a drain cover fails!

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.