The 3rd training and the background of the flop start: Manhole cover victim Sainz punished – Russell at the front in the 3rd training

class=”sc-29f61514-0 fwWrRV”>

The details slowly emerge. During the first practice, a manhole cover broke as a car drove over it and rolled across the track. A marshal immediately relayed the message – and the yellow lights came on.

Alonso: “That was extremely dangerous”

Alonso was warned by the team of a problem on the straight and was able to avoid the debris: “It looked like broken pieces of carbon fiber. That was extremely dangerous!”

Sainz, who was driving right behind the Spaniard, noticed the danger too late and raced over the metal hood at around 320 km/h. ‘Luckily I wasn’t hit. But my Ferrari was quite damaged.” There was a hole in the bottom of the chassis through which you could see the road!

50 manhole covers covered over

Well, during the long break of more than five hours (during which 50 manhole covers were also glued) the red mechanics built a new car and had to replace the chassis, engine, gearbox and battery.

And this third battery in 2023 now costs the Spaniard ten starting places for the penultimate race on Sunday at 7:00 am CET (TV live). Sainz: “All this damage is due to force majeure. Why do I have to pay for this during the race?”

Sainz rages – FIA helpless

The FIA ​​commissioners also thought so: “But unfortunately we could not find a loophole in the law to avoid this penalty!” Force majeure does not appear in the entire rulebook. Sainz: “I will definitely change my positive impression of Las Vegas now.”

The fans are also angry. Because the breakfast training took place from 2:30 am to 4:00 am without spectators. Because the security guards had a shift change at 1:30 am, the stands would have been unattended for 30 minutes and in addition, many employees around the circuit had already exceeded their working hours.

Fans clashed with police

Many spectators rioted and even refused to leave the stands, forcing the police to intervene. Or for the $200 day ticket you only saw Formula 1 for eight minutes. The cheated fans are now being offered a $200 voucher, but they can only use it to make purchases at the on-track fan shop. And there you will only find expensive caps or T-shirts.

“We certainly won’t be back,” some angry spectators were heard saying. The organizers, who expect a billion dollars in revenue, will hardly worry about it.

Qualification – anything possible

The third training before midnight qualifying (09:00 CET, TV live) did not allow clear predictions. Most drivers competed throughout the 60 minutes in all regions of the rankings. The Ferrari duo, at the front of the second practice session, used most of the time to test with the yellow rubber (medium) before the race.

And because Albon hit his left rear Williams wheel off the wall five minutes before the end after a driving error, the red flag came out – abort. Russell won the day ahead of Piastri, local hero Sargeant, Verstappen, Pérez and Albon.

Alfa-Sauber wonder bag

Alfa-Sauber remains a surprise bag even with the black monster. Bottas braked and turned – 9th place. Ultimately, teammate Zhou also paid for the C43’s pitfalls by braking in front of the emergency exit – 15th place. That’s barely enough for the top ten final

Source : Blick