On a frustrating day for F1, the opening action at the Las Vegas GP was ended after eight minutes of running in first practice after a water valve cover was dislodged by the cars.
The debris saw Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari and Esteban Ocon’s Alpine suffer serious damage, with the Spaniard controversially given a 10-place grid penalty for having to use an extra energy store for his Ferrari that was out of his allocation, with the stewards unable to avert applying the penalty in unusual circumstances.
Further trouble followed when the track repairs delayed the start of FP2, that was extended to 90 minutes to make up for lost running in first practice, which meant fans had to leave the track before the session started due to security staff shifts ending.
Despite the difficulty, Ferrari ended the day with a 1-2 led by Charles Leclerc, ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in third. Sergio Perez placed his Red Bull fourth, with Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas fifth, in front of the other Red Bull of Max Verstappen in sixth.
Qualifying for the Las Vegas GP starts at 12am local time (8am GMT), using the regular Q1, Q2 and Q3 knockout session format.
In the United Kingdom Formula 1 is broadcast live on Sky Sports, except for the British GP which is shown live on both Sky Sports and Channel 4, with highlights shown on Channel 4 several hours after the race has finished. Live streaming through NOW is also available in the UK.
Sky Sports F1, which broadcasts the F1 races, can be added as part of the Sky Sports channels which costs £24 a month for new customers. Sky Sports can also be accessed through NOW with a one-off day payment of £11.98p or a month membership of £34.99p per month.
Source: Autosport