Record-breaking (negative) session in Las Vegas, Nevada’s inaugural FP1 lasted only 12 minutes before being declared over early. In fact, due to a manhole, the first session scheduled for today here in Las Vegas was initially paused with an appropriate red flag, and then declared over 48 minutes early (with the iconic “Session Will not be resumed”). It is a situation that is really not seen often, in fact almost never, the cause of all this seems to have been a manhole.
Apparently the concrete frame that supported the manhole collapsed, creating a large hole in the middle of the straight of the strip which destroyed the bottom of Carlos Sainz’s car number #55 which was passing at more than 300 km/h; the winner of the Singapore Grand Prix was forced to park his Ferrari at the end of the Boulevard helplessly. Furthermore, the violence of the impact was so strong that the centrality of the red car was even detached (something that usually only happens in the case of serious and major accidents). Ocon himself had passed through the same point shortly before, both Alpine and Ferrari mechanics are therefore now working to repair the Spaniard’s and Frenchman’s cars as soon as possible to allow him to take part in the, hypothetical remains to be specified, FP2 : hypothetical because just as the mechanics will have to work hard in reopening the single-seaters, so too the circuit technicians will have to work as soon as possible to repair the ground of the Las Vegas Strip to allow the normal running of FP2, which would be scheduled for 00 :00 local time (09:00 Italian time).
Little curiosity: we will see high speeds here in Las Vegas, already today Hamilton reached 348 km/h on the straight before the session was suspended.