Formula 1 race in Las Vegas is Fine, But what about that infamous Manhole?

Formula 1 race is happening in the entertainment capital of the world Las Vegas. Everyone is happy about it, but if you ask Carlos Sainz he may differ from you and even fear the Las Vegas Grand prix for one thing. Last year's Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand prix was a big disaster for Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz as he went over a Manhole which damaged his floor and caused a huge accident. The manhole cover was dislodged by the Ferrari car on the main straights and created sparks and ruckus on the track.

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Infamous Manhole in Las Vegas

Fan captures video of Thursday night’s FP1 manhole cover incident #GPLasVegaspic.twitter.com/QBoRsOJAUg

— Racing RoundTable (@RacingRT1) November 17, 2023

The Manhole cover concrete frame failed and the Ferrari team had to pay for it with a huge bill. It also delayed the practice session. To prevent any of those mishaps from happening this year the F1 governing body has made some modifications to many covers along the 6.2-kilometer street circuit.

Las Vegas F1 Practice session 1 was stopped after Carlos Sainz of Team Ferrari hit what appears to be some type of manhole cover that surfaced during practice. The impact did serious damage to Sainz' car and had stewards looking over the damage. #Formula1#LasVegasGrandPrixpic.twitter.com/Bfz41HPEsb

— Gerald Contreras (@gerald605) November 17, 2023

Many similar kinds of Manholes found throughout the circuit have been paved over while others have been reinforced with much wider and heavier blocks to keep them in their place. This means last year's incident won't happen again this year and Carlos Sainz can go racing without any fear regarding the Manholes. The circuit is made on the public roads so it needs to be modified during the races. The walls were also realigned on the fast entry into the pitlanes.

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The victim Carlos Sainz himself spoke about last year's incident in Las Vegas and said “After what happened last year, I hope everything is fixed this year because I think it will be a lot better for the race and for everyone, and obviously for all the drivers, for safety. Thats my number one hope, for sure.”

He added “But we're looking forward to it. It's a cold weekend and a different track to what we're used to, low downforce, low grip, so a lot of different variables that we're normally not used to and a lot of challenges ahead like they were last year. I'm excited for it.” Ferrari is called to be the favourite of winning this race along with McLaren as the SF24 is very strong in these kinds of slow corner circuits. But finding the tyre temperature is the key to winning in these kinds of tracks which many teams will be trying to do all weekend.

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