Drain stopped play
Amid all the glitz and glamor of a Formula One weekend in Las Vegas, it was a familiar piece of drainage equipment making the early headlines.
On Thursday, race officials called time on the second practice session (P2) of the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix after a manhole cover issue brought events to a halt.
While the incident wasn’t as spectacular as Carlos Sainz Jr’s manhole cover pyrotechnics in Vegas in 2023, at least “no car was damaged” according to F1 accredited photographer Kym Illman, who posted images of the event on X:
After a short rain shower had chewed up a few precious minutes of scheduled P2 track time at the start, the manhole issue stole many more.
As the 8pm P2 session was at exactly the same start time as Friday’s qualifying and Saturday’s race, the lost time means F1 teams have significantly less “crucial data” than they would have liked.
Flag marshalls earn keep
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, reports of a loose manhole cover ahead of Turn 17 saw the return of the dreaded red-flag-waving marshalls, who stopped the session with 20 minutes remaining.
Cue a 15-minute delay as cars were cleared from the track to allow officials to inspect the offending manhole cover. With just two minutes left on the clock, the red flags were waved again, ending the P2 under the official FIA designation of “track maintenance.”
cover was moving as cars passed over it”
Shortly thereafter, the FIA issued a statement. “Some Race Control personnel remained on-site when the session was restarted. They reported that the manhole cover was moving as cars passed over it, which led to the session being ended under red-flag conditions. Further inspections are underway.”
McLaren’s Lando Norris led the truncated P2 session with a time of 1:33.602, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was ninth at 1:34.105.
Verstappen viva-ing Las Vegas
While Verstappen has admitted his bid for a fifth straight world title now requires a lot of luck, given Norris’s 49-point lead over him, the Red Bull driver seems to be enjoying Las Vegas much more this year.
“The food is great. I had a good dinner… The hotel is great,” the Review-Journal reported him saying.
Verstappen famously said the 2023 Vegas F1 event was “99 percent show, 1 percent sporting event,” so his comments will be welcomed by a city that’s endured a trying time in 2025 attracting visitors.
“I’ve been here many times, even before F1, and I’ve always enjoyed it.”
