F1 Las Vegas GP FP2 delayed due to manhole cover problem

The event’s FP2 session had been expected to get underway at midnight local time, but a message on the FIA’s timing system pages announced one hour before that point that second practice would be delayed.

Since the incident in FP1, when Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon suffered serious damage due to the manhole cover being worked loose as its concrete surround apparently failed under the stress of the ground-effect F1 cars going over it at top speed, the FIA has been urgently inspecting the rest of the manholes around the 3.9-mile track.

It is understood that there are around 40 manholes that need to be inspected.

Just over an hour after FP1 had been abandoned, a joint statement from F1 and Las Vegas GP organisers included a line that stated they would “provide an update on the race schedule as soon as possible”, but the only official information released since that point has been the timing screen update announcing the delay to FP2.

In the gigantic Vegas paddock complex, rumours had been swirling that a possible announcement regarding the developing situation and its impact on the remainder of Friday’s running would be released at 11pm local time, but this came and went.

Photo by: Jake Grant / Motorsport Images

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL60

There had also been speculation that the event could resume with FP2 starting later than billed possibly lasting longer, but this remains unconfirmed.

The teams will be greatly concerned about the state of the other manhole covers given Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur revealed in the team principals’ press conference that followed the cut short FP1 session that the incident had “damaged completely the monocoque, the engine [and] the battery” on Sainz’s car.

There is also an inevitable impact on the fans that had arrived at the Vegas track expecting to see F1 cars running in the city for the first time in 41 years.

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Autosport observed stunned silence at the corners outside the huge Sphere entertainment venue when FP1 was first abandoned, with circuit commentators unable to inform the spectators why the session had been cancelled following the red flag that was initially called when Sainz stopped on track as a result of the damage.

There have since been reports that some fans have chosen to leave the venue.

The idea of postponing FP2 to later on Thursday night will also need to take into consideration that per the event’s schedule of road closures, the sections of public highway that have been closed to form the track are supposed to start reopening at 2am. 

Local traffic is, however, only scheduled to be allowed back on the roads used by the circuit at 4am.