Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has expressed his hope that Formula 1 will find ways to accommodate fans who were faced with unexpected interruptions at last weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix. During the first free practice session, the cars of Carlos Sainz and Esteban Ocon were hit by a loose manhole cover, which led to delays and ultimately to the expulsion of fans present.
The Las Vegas Grand Prix did not start as hoped after the first free practice session was stopped after eight minutes as two cars suffered significant damage due to a loose manhole cover. The parties involved had to carry out precautionary checks on other drain covers around the new 6.2 km circuit, resulting in the second free practice being postponed and only being held in the late hours.
Fans compensate
“Thursday was so difficult with the manhole cover coming loose, driving from 2:30 am to 4:00 am to see if everything was in order for the next day,” Wolff told Motorsportweek about his experiences. He acknowledged that these were unforeseen circumstances. “You can’t have people working at the track that late,” he adds. He also suggested the possibility of creating a buffer for next year to better deal with such situations.
“Communication can often do a lot to improve the situation,” the Austrian emphasized. “I hope that we can find a good solution for next year for the people who got angry for the right reasons, so that they can enjoy the race and maybe in some way we can repay them for the unfortunate situation,” he said. Mercedes team boss.
Las Vegas leaves a good impression
Wolff reflected on the weekend and emphasized that, despite the unforeseen interruption, it was a great event. “The weekend was great,” he claimed. ‘The manhole cover was nothing in the end, as I said. If you look back at the whole weekend it was a spectacular race with a great crowd. A truly fantastic event!’, says the team boss enthusiastically. “It met all expectations,” he adds.
