Christopher Fillocque, edited by Philippe Folgado // Photo credit: Robert Szaniszlo / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP
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7:17 a.m., November 18, 2023
Penultimate race of the 2023 Formula 1 season. This weekend, the premier category of motorsport offers a unique meeting in the streets of Las Vegas. An urban route which has already had an unpleasant surprise in store for the drivers and their teams on Friday.
Las Vegas, a new track for the 21st and penultimate Grand Prix of the Formula 1 season, a track which has already had an unpleasant surprise in store for the drivers. The first free practice session was cut short, after only a few minutes, the session was interrupted due to a manhole cover which rose on the circuit, causing significant damage, notably to the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz.
“99% show, and 1% sport”
“Carlos hit it at 320 or 325km/h. It damaged the chassis, the engine, the battery. Everything is dead,” Frédéric Vasseur, the boss of Ferrari, told Canal +. “Carlos had difficulty breathing after the accident in the car and in retrospect, we scared ourselves a little with what could have been more serious,” explains the Frenchman.
A start to the weekend that the race organizers would have done well without. Las Vegas has a Formula 1 Grand Prix for the first time since the 1980s. And there are many doubts about the sporting value of the event. Some drivers even proclaimed it loud and clear, as did triple world champion Max Verstappen: “it’s 99% show, and 1% sport,” declared the Dutchman. So what will this new Las Vegas Grand Prix do in the middle of the splendor of the city of vice with an urban layout and a nighttime schedule?
Everything was done to promote the spectacle, qualifying began at 9 a.m. French time.