Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur called the damage sustained to Carlos Sainz’s car ‘unacceptable,’ after a loose manhole cover ripped into the floor of the SF-23.
The first practice session of the Las Vegas GP weekend opened up at 20:30 local time but a matter of minutes later was under red flag conditions, with Sainz crawling to a halt.
Indeed, it quickly became clear that a manhole cover had caused the issue, with the FIA saying a concrete frame around the cover came loose which led to the problem.
Esteban Ocon also suffered damage to his Alpine car, with the team opting to change his chassis in light of the problem, whilst Vasseur had to speak to the press in the latest team principals’ press conference, and he couldn’t hide his frustrations.
“We damaged completely the monocoque, the engine, the battery,” he said, clearly annoyed.
“I think it’s just unacceptable. It cost us a fortune. We f***** up the session for Carlos. We won’t be part of FP2 for sure. I think it’s just unacceptable for F1 today.
“[Carlos] said he hit something on the track, he didn’t know exactly what it was.”
Sainz will likely not drive the Ferrari until tomorrow now, whilst that could be the case for the other 19 drivers in terms of getting out on track once more on Thursday evening for FP2, with the FIA currently inspecting other covers around the track to see if they are secure enough to be driven over.
