Free Practice 1 at the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix was cancelled after just 20 minutes following a serious failure on Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari resulting in a red flag.
It’s no doubt concerning and equally frustrating for the teams that are attempting to learn the nuances of the Las Vegas Strip Circuit that the track appears to be unsafe and that they’ve lost 40 minutes of running.
Sainz‘s failure came as he thundered down a straight and into a yellow flag zone. The Spanish driver appeared to lift fractionally before he is thought to have struck a manhole cover that had lifted onto the track and destroyed his bodywork.
The session was subsequently cancelled in order to allow the FIA to check all of the manhole covers to ensure that they’re bolted down properly.
In the brief session, Lance Stroll was the first out of his car with an issue on his Aston Martin before Esteban Ocon hopped out of his Alpine as the mechanics laboured away on his front-right after he possibly hit the manhole too.
F1 2023 – Las Vegas GP Practice 1 Results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:40.909 |
| 2 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | +2.547 |
| 3 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | +3.352 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +3.488 |
| 5 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | +4.456 |
| 6 | George Russell | Mercedes | +4.588 |
| 7 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | +4.915 |
| 8 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | +4.999 |
| 9 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | +5.884 |
| 10 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | +6.238 |
| 11 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | +7.344 |
| 12 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | +7.604 |
| 13 | Daniel Ricciardo | AlphaTauri | +7.741 |
| 14 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo | +7.913 |
| 15 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +8.038 |
| 16 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | No time |
| 17 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | No time |
| 18 | Alex Albon | Williams | No time |
| 19 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | No time |
| 20 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | No time |
