Las Vegas Grand Prix chief explains ‘new protocols’ to prevent another Carlos Sainz drain cover incident

The Las Vegas Grand Prix takes place for a second time around the Nevada street circuit after making its debut on the calendar in 2023.

Drivers will be seen traversing past some iconic landmarks at top speeds of 217mph, including the Caesars Palace and Bellagio hotels.

The 3.8 mile track has already seen some unforgettable moments, one of which was when Carlos Sainz hit a drain cover that wreaked his Ferrari during the opening practice session.

The Spaniard was on an installation lap when he hit the cover just eight minutes into the session, sending storm of sparks into the air. The incident led to Ferrari having to change his entire power unit, triggering a 10-place grid penalty for the race.

Discussing how they plan to prevent a similar scenario from happening again this year, Las Vegas GP general manager Terry Miller has explained the new protocols in place when speaking to The Athletic.

Las Vegas GP general manager explains ‘new protocols’ to prevent drain incident

F1 will be keen to avoid any further disruptions to the race weekend this year, after identifying that it was a loose water valve cover that caused significant damage to Sainz’s Ferrari.

FP1 was effectively cancelled, then FP2 was was delayed so long that was close to the 4am curfew for when the public roads need to reopen and police asked fans to leave the track due to lack of staff manning the grandstands.

While the Las Vegas GP promoter changed the timings of practice and qualifying this year, Miller explained that new protocols are in place for this year to prevent any similar problems from disrupting the weekend.

“Due to what occurred last year, we do have, in fact, a protocol and a process that we’ve gone through over the last five months to secure the lids, even to the point where we will do three or four visual checks of what’s going on in the roadway before and after a race event,” said Miller.

“You can never guarantee that nothing is going to happen. But you can certainly have the mitigating efforts in place to reduce the risk, and that’s what we’ve done.”

Max Verstappen on the cusp of winning fourth F1 World Championship in Las Vegas

Las Vegas could be the setting where Max Verstappen wins his fourth F1 World Championship, after he significantly outscored title rival Lando Norris at the Brazilian GP to go 62 points ahead.

Norris must finish ahead of Verstappen to keep his mathematical chances alive, which seems like a big ask if Red Bull are on the pace from the start of the weekend.

Ferrari is also expected to be strong at Las Vegas which will put further pressure on McLaren, especially as they are trying to defend their lead in the Constructors’ Championship.

They may have been given a lifeline from their title rivals however, after the FIA has now banned an ‘illegal’ part on Ferrari’s car after a protest from Red Bull.