Leclerc tops delayed second practice after track issues
Session 90 minutes long after first practice ended early with cars damaged by track's drain covers
Ocon and Sainz's chassis to be changed for drain cover damage
Sainz receives grid drop for using new battery after damage
Get involved #bbcf1
Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Las Vegas
Stewards reject a request from Ferrari to be allowed to use a fresh engine out of Carlos Sainz's allocation without a grid penalty because of the "highly unusual external circumstances". So he will have a grid drop.
#BBCF1
Ashic: Nothing screams Las Vegas quite like manhole covers blowing up a $500M event.
Clive Hill: “This has happened before” says Wolff. That’s precisely why it should not have happened again. Other than Verstappen, there seems to be a real reluctance to criticise the organisers and Liberty. Teams need to be honest: this is terrible for the fans at the track
Oh no...
We won't be starting at 10:00 GMT.
The session has been delayed a further 15 minutes.
Start time now should be 10:15 GMT.
Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Las Vegas
Image source, Getty ImagesEsteban Ocon hit the same drain as Carlos Sainz had while he was retuning to the pits after the red flag had been shown for the Ferrari’s incident. The team received no warning from race control about debris or problems on track.
Alfa Romeo's Zhou Guanyu had a narrow escape. The Chinese was the first driver along after Sainz's incident and had to take avoiding action to miss the detached drain cover.
Image source, Getty ImagesHas an incident like this happened before in Formula 1?
Come on down, Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2019.
Just like Vegas, first practice in Baku was abandoned after George Russell's Williams was damaged on a loose manhole cover.
The Briton's car caught the edge of the cover between Turns Two and Three and it smashed the floor of his car, which then shut down.
In farcical scenes, the truck bringing Russell's car back to the pits then crashed into a bridge over the track.
That leaked hydraulic fluid on to Russell's car beneath.
D'oh.
Image source, Rex FeaturesErm... just one slight problem with this, Vegas. Second practice starts at 2am local time.
If you paid the full $919 for a Thursday practice ticket last year, this is a huge blow.
Image source, Las Vegas Grand PrixThe floor is yours to get any Las Vegas Grand Prix thoughts off your chest.
Is this just a small blip for the inaugural event?
Or is it a true 'black eye'? for F1 and the organisers?
Send us your comments using the hashtag #BBCF1 on X, formerly Twitter.
Image source, Getty ImagesAndrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Las Vegas
Image source, Getty ImagesMcLaren Racing chief executive officer Zak Brown said: "I don't think it was because corners were cut. They have spared no expense on the event. We just have to work out what happened and fix it. I think they just got it wrong."
Williams team boss James Vowles pointed out that modern F1 cars generated "huge amounts of suction" from their underbodies and "they just experienced a force they weren't expecting".
Image source, Getty ImagesThe team principal press conference earlier on produced some feisty words from Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.
When asked if the disrupted first practice session was a "black eye" for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Wolff replied: "That is not a black eye, this is nothing. We are on Thursday night, we have a free practice session that we're not doing.
"They're going to see the drain covers and nobody's going to talk about that tomorrow morning anymore."
The tension increased when another journalist jumped in to disagree with Wolff. "It's completely ridiculous. How can you even dare trying to talk bad about an event that sets the new standards to everything?" he said.
"And then you're speaking about a ******* drain cover that's been undone. That has happened before. That's nothing.
"Give credit to the people that have set up this grand prix, that have made this sport much bigger than it ever was.
"Liberty has done an awesome job and just because in FP1 a drain cover has become undone we shouldn't be moaning.
"The car is broken, that's really a shame. For Carlos it could have been dangerous, so between the FIA and the track everybody needs to analyse how we can make sure that this is not happening again.
"But talking here about a black eye for the sport on a Thursday evening? Nobody watches that in European time anyway. Come on."
Image source, ReutersRed Bull boss Christian Horner, who celebrated his 50th birthday yesterday, spoke to Sky Sports straight after the first session and said both Red Bulls had managed to avoid any loose covers.
"We're all good so far," he said. "From what I've heard, one of the Alpines has picked up damage and I had a quick chat with Fred and obviously the damage is quite significant on that Ferrari.
"They've got to go and check them all, really, just to make sure it's safe to run. These cars are doing such a speed, so close to the ground, we've just got to make sure that it's safe.
"We have to be flexible. It's a great shame for the fans who have come out to see the cars running but safety comes first and we've just got to get this right and hopefully it won't take too long."
Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Las Vegas
Image source, EPAF1, which unusually is acting as the promoter for this race itself, has spent more than £500m on preparations for the race. This includes a buying plot of land in Las Vegas, on which it has built the largest pit building on the F1 calendar and prepared the track.
The pit building will become a permanent presence for F1 in the Nevada city.
Hosting a grand prix in Las Vegas is the culmination of 40 years of on-and-off effort and has succeeded because of buy-in from the casinos, who expect to make millions of dollars and see the race as part of Las Vegas’ bid to become a global centre for sport.
There are lots of videos on social media, including CCTV footage from the Bellagio hotel, that shows the moment Carlos Sainz thuds over the manhole cover and sparks fly out from the rear of his Ferrari.
The schedule is already tight this weekend and the stretch of the boulevard used for the Las Vegas Grand Prix has to be reopened to the public at 4am local time on Friday.
Las Vegas residents and tourists are under 'hot track' and 'warm track' conditions this week. When there's action on track, it's 'hot' and additional roads in the area and entrances to the circuit will be shut down. When F1 is finished, the 'warm' periods begin and the facilities are back in use to the public.
Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Las Vegas
Image source, ReutersFerrari team boss Frederic Vasseur described problems with manhole covers at the Las Vegas Grand Prix track as "just unacceptable".
First practice was cancelled after just nine minutes when Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz hit a manhole cover that had come loose.
The Alpine of Esteban Ocon was also damaged in the same way in the nine minutes before the session was cut short.
Vasseur said Sainz’s car had a damaged chassis, engine and battery and would miss the second session if it happened.
He said the damage would "cost a fortune".
He added: "The show is mega and I am very happy with what (F1 owners) Liberty (Media) did around the race but we have to separate the show and the sporting side.
"The show is mega. The opening ceremony was something mega in F1 but it is not because you are doing this that you don’t have to do the job on then sporting side. You can do the show and do a good job on the sporting side."
The trick was inspected and declared fit for racing by governing body the FIA before running began.
Nine minutes is all it took for first practice to be brought to a halt following a red flag after Carlos Sainz hit a loose drain cover and damaged his Ferrari.
A message that read, "stop the car, engine off" was shown on the dashboard of the Spaniard's steering wheel before he stopped on the Strip and had to exit the car.
While the marshals worked quickly to recover Sainz's car, an announcement was made that the session would not not be resumed.
Image source, Las Vegas Grand PrixWelcome back if you were with us at 4am. Big hello if you're just joining us now.
First practice flopped on opening night in Sin City and now the clock is ticking to get the Las Vegas Strip circuit up to a safe standard.
The plan is for second practice to go green at 10:00 GMT and to last 90 minutes.
That makes the new start time 2am in Vegas. Gulp.
I'll update you with radio commentary details when I have them.
Years to plan, millions of pounds spent and hyped up all season as the one to watch.
First practice at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, however, didn't exactly go to plan...
Image source, Getty Images
Image source, Reuters
Image source, ReutersAndrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Las Vegas
Image source, Getty ImagesFirst practice at the Las Vegas Grand Prix was called off after just nine minutes of running because of a problem with a loose drain cover.
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz stopped out on track on the Strip and the session was stopped shortly afterwards. Ferrari said they did not initially know what had happened.
Governing body the FIA said that there was "an issue with a drain cover".
Alpine said they were changing the chassis of Esteban Ocon's car because of "damage from a suspected drain cover".
Image source, Getty ImagesAll the glitz, glamour, hype and money spent in the build-up, only for the first session of the Las Vegas Grand Prix to end prematurely.
Will second practice be given the green light? We'll have to wait and see.
Time for us to take a quick break and hopefully, we'll be back up and running at 07:30 GMT.
See you shortly!
Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Las Vegas
FIA say: "Concrete frame around a manhole cover that has failed. Now need to check all the other manhole covers, which will take some time. Will be discussing with circuit engineering team about length of time it will take to resolve and will update with any changes to schedule."
I'll do it Haas!
1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) - 1:40.9094
2. Nico Haas (Haas) - 1:43.4464
3. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) - 1:44.2614
Image source, X