2023-11-17 08:55:23
The Las Vegas Grand Prix did not start under the best auspices this Thursday evening in Nevada and this Friday morning in France. Indeed, while the first laps were made by the Formula 1 cars on the urban track from 8:30 p.m. local time, a yellow flag then a red flag were waved following a few minutes. The cause ? A water drain valve that had been dislodged from its location and found itself in the middle of the runway.
Several single-seaters suffered damage linked to this problem, but this is the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz who was the most affected. The Spaniard hit the valve head-on, which greatly damaged the SF-23 struck with #55. Information collected by Motorsport.com on site reported significant damage to the survival cell and the pilot’s seat, who fortunately escaped unscathed; Frédéric Vasseur, director of the Scuderia, later revealed that “engine [et] the batteries” had notably been damaged.
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As soon as this problem was discovered and FP1 was definitively interrupted as a result, the FIA and the Las Vegas circuit teams inspected the various valves, with around forty vents of the same type scattered across the 6.2 km route. It was apparently the concrete around the valve in question which gave way when the cars passed, rendering the seal used to hold it down inoperative.
In these conditions, the race management initially postponed the start of Free Practice 2, scheduled for midnight local time and 9:00 a.m. in France, so that work on the circuit might be carried out successfully. Finally, shortly before 1 a.m. in Nevada, it was announced via an FIA press release that the session would start at 2 a.m. (i.e. 11 a.m. in France) and would last 90 minutes instead of 60.
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