Sainz's Fury Over Vegas GP Mishap: F1's Sparking Controversy
Nov.18 - The new Las Vegas GP got off to a "ridiculous" start on Thursday when a broken manhole cover smashed through the glitz and glamour.
Liberty Media's blue-riband, billion-dollar project culminated in scenes of police ushering furious fans giving the thumbs-down out of the new street circuit - to give track staff some sleep ahead of a rescheduled practice session in the dead of the night.
"The FIA is guilty for this. They simply missed it," former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde said on Viaplay as track workers poured quick-drying concrete into the broken asphalt.
The media was scathing, and even Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur - with Sainz's damaged components dropping him down the grid in a controversial decision - called the situation "unacceptable".
The Frenchman declared: "You can do the show and also do a good job on the sporting side. It's two separate things."
F1 analyst Sam Dejonghe told Sporza news agency: "When the show is the priority, you see what happens."
NOS, a Dutch publication, called it a "ridiculous night" in Vegas, with Kolner Express agreeing that it was a "huge embarrassment for Formula 1".
F1 did not even show replays of the explosion of sparks that ripped through the floor of a furious Carlos Sainz's Ferrari - with fans only brought up to date when security footage a nearby hotel was leaked.
"Loud F1 farce in the middle of the night," concluded Finnish newspaper Ilta Sanomat.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, however, lashed out at a reporter who said F1 and Liberty had taken a "black eye" on one of their most important-ever days.
"How can you even dare trying to talk bad about an event that sets new standards for everything - and then you're speaking about a f***ing drain cover that's undone?" the Austrian blasted.
But AlphaTauri driver Daniel Ricciardo said wondering if F1 had prepared for the on-track show as much as it had prepared for the off-track glitz was a "fair question".
"I also don't want to criticise the sport too much," said the Australian.
Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher said that with no prior track testing and also no support events at Las Vegas, the new ground effect cars had just caught the sport out.
"We cannot underestimate that," he said on Sky Deutschland. "The manhole covers are firmly screwed on - the problem is that the concrete broke all around it."
McLaren boss Zak Brown agrees that it's "unfair" to suggest that "corners were cut" on the sporting side due to the obsession with the show, while Las Vegas GP boss Renee Wilm also played down the calamity.
"We have all been to events that had to be interrupted or cancelled for various reasons," she said. "It's never nice, but it happens."
But the last word is saved for Spaniard Sainz, whose Ferrari was not only destroyed, but stewards refused to wave a ten-grid qualifying drop for the damaged parts.
"At the moment I'm just too disappointed to talk," he said. "But for me, what happened is clear evidence that this sport can still be improved in many ways.
"You won't see me very happy this weekend."
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He couldn't be more right.
Truly amazed and angry... Carlos have every right to pissed off
Carlos should be rewarded not penalised for a track found '' not fit for purpose'' where is the sense of fair play these days, or is it simply a business where controversy is and unfairness improves bank accounts for the few....
Sir Sterling set the bar for fairness and the honest approach during his life both on and off the circuit, perhaps i am naive to think that approach will ever return to F1 sadly.
Just goes to show what a huge joke this Vegas farce is! This proves yet again that liberty are just about the money they are killing F1!!
Managers say one thing , Drivers say another, and Christian loses his Viennese rag and nearly punches out a journalist, pure comedy.......
When did he nearly punch a journalist?
Sorry had my journo "make anything up" head on again, ill issue an apology in tomorrows issue saying he mildly became irritated in the journalists question, in between sticking his nose onto questions aimed at FastFreddy, and that will go to print
Does anybody but me think that, rulebook be damned, Charlie Whiting would have found a way to make right the Sainz decision?
After 55 years of fealty I might not be around for next season. Sad.
F1 owner Liberty Media spent $1,000,000,000 on the Vegas Sh_t-show? What a colossal waste.
It strains every fiber of credulity to think no-one thought to secure the covers on the track. It is axiomatic to secure anything in the roadway that could come adrift.
Clearly, there are no race-drivers in any management capacity at LM. They are single-handedly destroying the F1 'brand'.
Spot on, my Canadian hero, and THANK YOU for not saying manhole covers. You remain far above the uneducated masses. You probably even know that it is fentaNYL, not fentaNOL. Now if we can just nudge you out of the slow lane and into the middle lane, voila.