Lando Norris second topped practice for this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix but the action in Sin City was once again marred, as it was two years ago, by issues with manhole covers.
In 2023, on its debut, Formula One’s £500m race in Nevada got off to a farcical start after first practice was called off after just eight minutes when Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz hit a loose manhole cover, causing serious damage to his car.
Race-goers, some of whom had paid thousands of pounds for their tickets, were furious after waiting in the cold for almost six hours to watch a heavily delayed second practice, only to be forcibly removed from the circuit half an hour before it started.
F1 tried to appease single-day ticket holders by offering them a $200 voucher for the Las Vegas Grand Prix official shop. A class-action lawsuit was eventually filed on behalf of 35,000 fans against the grand prix, which uniquely among races on the calendar is promoted by F1 itself.
This time the issue was not nearly so serious. First practice – topped by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc – had already been and gone, and second practice only had around 20 minutes remaining when a marshal reported a “possible loose manhole” cover at turn 17.
The session was red flagged for 16 minutes while marshals attended. There was some confusion as the television images, controlled by F1, did not show the cause of the stoppage. The session then resumed for a few minutes, only to be called off again with three minutes left on the clock.
“Some Race Control personnel remained on-site when the session was restarted,” the FIA, Formula One’s governing body, later explained in a statement. “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 under way.”
Norris, who leads the championship by 24 points from McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, and by 49 points from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, was 0.029sec ahead of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli when the session ended, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc third, 0.161sec off the pace.
However, that was not necessarily a true indication of pace as a number of top drivers did not get runs on the soft tyre during the session. Those included Piastri, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton.
Race officials are now likely to face a long night checking all the manhole covers around the circuit.
Qualifying for the race takes place on Friday, with the grand prix itself at 8pm on Saturday (4am Sunday morning UK time).