Il Las Vegas Grand Prix is ready to heat up the streets of the city of sin with the first day, or rather night, dedicated to free practice. New track, new challenges. There is a lot of anticipation to see how the single-seaters will perform on the street circuit that winds through the streets of Las Vegas, a stage that returns to Formula 1 after 40 years of absence. Since it was announced over a year ago, this event has been the center of attention. Expectations are very high but there are also many doubts, one of which is linked to the asphalt and the roughness of a track that winds along city streets. There was in fact a lot of curiosity to attend FP1 in Las Vegas, as well as an important need for the drivers and teams, looking for data on which they could work for the weekend.
However, the session ended early due to a safety problem which now puts the entire weekend at risk! Let's see what happened in FP1 in Las Vegas.
This year, Las Vegas welcomes F1 with a unique spectacle: the race will be held on Saturday evening for television reasons. The 6,2 km long track that twists and turns through the world-famous Strip and the city's surroundings promises a fast route, with long straights and seventeen low-speed corners. To further complicate things, in addition to the asphalt conditions there will be the cold. Temperatures expected between seven and ten degrees will put drivers and teams to the test, requiring careful tire management to enter the optimal operating window. Let's remember that in Las Vegas Pirelli brought the softest compounds.
Sainz forced to stop, session cancelled
With a new track and completely unknown conditions everyone immediately gets ready to go on track. The first to take to the track are Bottas and Zhou with the hard tires. Red Bull McLaren and Alpine instead opt for the medium tyres, while Mercedes, Aston Martin and Ferrari start FP1 on the soft tyres. After the first 8 minutes the situation is as follows. In the lead we find the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc with the soft and a time of 1:40.909. Followed by the Haas of Hulkenberg and Magnussen. In fourth position, the first with the yellows is Max Verstappen, followed by Ocon.
The session ends with a red flag. Sainz is forced to stop on the straight. Lor Spanish, as the FIA also communicates, was stopped by a manhole on the track which hit Carlos' bottom so hard it made him stop. At the time of the red flag, 15 had completed at least one timed lap. The on-board images, in fact, show how Sainz had a sort of jolt in a straight line which would have triggered the engine shutdown alert from the safety system. This episode alerted the FIA which decided to suspend the session to secure the circuit. Sainz isn't the only one who has had problems. Alpine also reported that it had suffered damage to the bottom of Ocon's car. We will see how the program for the day and the weekend will change.
