The inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix was a highly anticipated affair as the first practice session got underway and even if you were unable to score the [expensive] tickets in the grandstands, you could view some of the action from select hotel rooms [in this case, the iconic Flamingo, where flashes of cars whizzing by represented the Strip straight action as the Bellagio fountain provided a glamorous backdrop].
But things went awry a mere nine minutes into the first practice session when Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, Jr. hit a manhole cover which had inexplicably risen from the ground to a level where it damaged Sainz, Jr.’s Ferrari when he drove over it, requiring repairs which eventually gave Sainz, Jr. a 10-place grid penalty.
The session was eventually cancelled and fans were issued a $200 credit to the F1 store as payback [which many viewed as inadequate] while the second session was delayed until the middle of the night as the entire circuit was checked for the 40 total manhole covers contained in it. That delay meant fans could not attend as security for the session had not been contracted for the extra time.
The third practice session went on without a hitch.
