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Oscar Piastri is hoping Las Vegas Grand Prix bosses have learned significant lessons after what was a difficult F1 debut.
After F1 spent half-a-billion US dollars in building up the infrastructure and laying down a circuit as it took up the promotion of a race for the first time in the sport’s history, the event will long be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
The opening practice session lasted just eight minutes after Carlos Sainz ran over a water valve cover, the concrete seal of which exploded underneath his Ferrari given the forces involved, causing severe damage to the SF23.
Alongside the repairs required to that particular drain, every other outlet had to be checked, leading to a two-and-a-half hour delay to the start of FP2 that commenced at 2.30am.
An hour beforehand, however, F1 had taken the difficult decision to eject the die-hard fans who had waited patiently for the action to recommence as union labour laws kicked in with regard to support staff. Unfortunately, police were called for those who steadfastly refused to leave.
Reflecting on the drain fault initially, McLaren driver Piastri feels the issue with Sainz should not have happened, especially as F1 has a history following incidents in the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix, and the Azerbaijan GP three years later.
“Obviously, it was not an ideal first day,” said Piastri. “Drains have been an issue a couple of times before, and there are clearly a lot of them here.
“I know it’s public roads and stuff, but guaranteeing those kinds of things are safe is probably the number one priority.
“I know that the drains are different here to some other places, maybe that means different measures. But it’s not like it’s not been an issue in the past.”
Piastri felt particularly sorry for the fans who had paid good money to see the opening two practice sessions but departed after witnessing nothing more than exploratory laps during the opening eight minutes of FP1 before it was cancelled.
There was no apology from F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, or LVGP CEO Renee Wilm in a statement issued the day after.
Salt was rubbed into the wounds of spectators when F1 reimbursed those with Thursday tickets only – just six percent of the day’s total audience – and even then they were only given a US$200 voucher for the official store. A lawsuit has since been filed against F1 and the Las Vegas GP.
“As for the fans, I understand why they (the FIA) wanted to run a session on the first day to see what the track is like and see if there were any other issues that would arise,” added Piastri.
“But driving race cars at three o’clock in the morning, four o’clock in the morning, leaving at sunrise, it’s a different kind of day for us, as opposed to it being a normal timezone where practice gets pushed back an hour or two later in the afternoon.
“I’m sure they’ll learn a lot of things from that and get it better for next year.
“Obviously it was very disappointing for fans that they didn’t get to see anything. I get the laws and stuff but maybe they could have been told earlier that that was the direction it was going to go.”
