He Las Vegas Grand Prix radiates a already seen. On the 22nd date of the World Cup Formula 1 there was a problem with a loose sewer and it had to be suspended twice – the second, definitive – second round of trainingsomething that was reminiscent of its 2023 version, when there was a similar mishap at the premiere of the current track. On that occasion, Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari was damaged by an object that was not properly fixed and he needed to change the floor of his car. This is punishable by the regulations and the Spaniard received a sporting sanction, although his failure had been caused by a defect in the organization. Frenchman Esteban Ocon, then Alpine driver, was also affected by this issue two years ago.
This Thursday, too Franco Colapinto felt something repeated, but more recent: the poor performance of your Alpine after replacement of chassis carried out at the San Pablo GP, following the crash that the Argentine suffered in the sprint race less than two weeks ago. After finishing last in the first rehearsal in Las Vegas, Pilar’s boy improved to the 16th placebut without feeling significant progress on the A525.
Even the result of the second round of training was hardly indicative of the state of things, because The two red flags cut 21 minutes from the planned 60 minutes of activity y test programs were left unfinished. The first interruption occurred due to the presumption that a culvert was loose near turn 17, the last one on the drawing, and that made it dangerous. Staff from the organization went to review it and assessed that there were no problems, and the session resumed. But a few minutes later the authorities again issued the red flag for this problem, which had evidently not been well analyzed.
So, with just 39 minutes of real action and without the last part of the round, in which the best times usually appear, the final classification was very relative, dominated by Lando Norris con McLaren. There were some surprises, like the 4th place of Nico Hulkenberg con Sauberhe 9º of Max Verstappen con Red Bull and the 14º of Oscar Piastri con McLaren.
Pierre GaslyColapinto’s teammate, had very good partial performances, even among the first three, but finished 12º. Of course, much closer to first place in time than the Argentine: the Frenchman, with 1m34s373/1000, was a 771/1000 of the Norris brand (1m33s602/1000), and He was 451/1000 faster than the Buenos Aires nativelocated a 1s222/1000with 1m34s824/1000.
With these records the first day of the Las Vegas GP closed, whose program will continue this Friday. At 21.30 will begin third and final rehearsal sessionalready 1 of the Saturdayalso Buenos Aires time, the classification test to order the starting grid of the main race. Atypically, the central competition will take place on the local Saturday, although the Sunday morning in Argentina: will leave 1. In all cases, Fox Sports and Disney+ will broadcast.
Franco Colapinto is still paying a consequence of the crash in the sprint race of the San Pablo Grand Prix, almost two weeks away: he is unhappy with the replacement chassis for the damaged one. In Las Vegas, after being 20th in the initial tests and 16th in the following ones, he says: “It’s the biggest difference. We went back to the first part of the season, which was more difficult for me. It’s somewhat unverifiable, but I do know that I feel different from how I did in the last races, and it could be because of that. Unfortunately, due to the crash in Brazil it had to be changed and it couldn’t be repaired for this race. So we have to work hard and understand why. Hopefully in the next ones races come back the other [chasis]”.
After training, Franco Colapinto comments on his performance. “I couldn’t do a lap on the soft rubber all day. I think that’s the negative: I feel quite uncomfortable with the soft rubber. The medium one is better. In any case, I still have the problems from FP1: the car had very little grip at the back, it was unmanageable. It was quite complicated, and with the soft rubber it was even worse. In FP2 it improved but we still have the same problems, just a little less. We were finding our way a little bit. You have to work at night. The difference is a little more girl and that’s good, but we are far away. I think the problems are similar to those I had in Brazil and for now we are not being able to solve them; we have to work and understand why a little,” says the Argentine in the mixed zone.
Lando Norris gave the best lap of the second practice session of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. With McLaren, he set 1m33s602/1000 and surpassed Charles Leclerc’s (Ferrari) record by 1s204/1000 in the first turn. In the first half of the peloton the Englishman was followed by Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), at 29/1000; Leclerc, at 161/1000; Nico Hülkenberg (Sauber), at 277/1000; Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls), at 291/1000; Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls), at 299/1000; George Russell (Mercedes), at 435/1000; Alexander Albon (Wililams), at 465/1000; Max Verstappen (Red Bull), at 503/1000, and Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), at 525/1000. Behind was Oscar Piastri (McLaren), 14th at 891/1000, although it should be emphasized that the round was irregular and ended with a red flag, suspended.
With 21 minutes lost in the round between both suspensions, the final classification is even more relative. Franco Colapinto improves four positions compared to the opening session, to 16th, 1s222/1000 behind the best time, that of Lando Norris. Pierre Gasly returns to 12th, but much closer to the McLaren driver, at 771/1000.
For the second time the red flag status is ruled in the second round of rehearsals in Las Vegas, and this is the final one: there is no time to resume the session. The organization communicates the reason, without further specificity: “Maintenance of the runway.”
A failure in the gearbox leaves Charles Leclerc out of action early. On the side of the track, the Monegasque asks on the radio if he can change gears and they answer no.
After checking the sewer, which was finally not loose, the second round of training resumed in Las Vegas. There are just six minutes of action left and the 20 cars take to the track to take advantage of what little remains of testing on Thursday in Nevada.
A track marshal’s presumption that the culvert was loose leads to the suspension, as authorities cannot verify the situation with closed-circuit television. Two cars from the organization arrive at the scene.
Although the official television does not mention it, it transpires that the cause of the suspension of the round is an anomaly in a sewer located at the height of turn 17, the last one on the route. The mishap is reminiscent of one from 2023, the inaugural year of this Las Vegas drawing, when Carlos Sainz was seriously affected by an element of that type. The Spaniard had to change the floor of his Ferrari and was sanctioned for that, although it was an organizational problem, and he was not compensated. The Las Vegas Grand Prix is organized by Liberty Media, the Formula 1 promotion company.
The training session stops, with the red flag. There is no accident in the car and the organization does not clarify why the activity is stopped. There is some confusion about it.
On a street circuit the possibility of hitting walls is constant. And Charles Leclerc almost hit himself head-on in a sharp left turn: his Ferrari continued on, but came to a stop a few centimeters from the wall. The car was then left intact.
Even though the track is cold and received some water in the middle, the second practice session showed clearly better times than its predecessor. At the end of the first half, Charles Leclerc once again appears at the top of the records, improving his initial turn by one second. The Ferrari Monegasque clocked 1m33s763, and many rivals are following him closely: Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls), Lando Norris (McLaren), George Russell (Mercedes), Max Verstappen (Red Bull), Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), Pierre Gasly (Alpine), Alexander Albon (Williams) and Carlos Sainz (Williams). And Colapinto? He is located 13th, at 1s61/1000.
After 20 minutes of the second round, George Russell, with Mercedes, and the McLarens, of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, beat the best time of the first. With 1m34s430/1000, the Englishman from Williams beats Charles Leclerc’s mark from the initial round by 372 thousandths. And the Alpine? Pierre Gasly is 2nd, at 201/1000, and Colapinto, 15th, at 1s103/1000.
After 11 minutes of the round, Franco Colapinto achieved the best time among the ten drivers who recorded valid timed laps: 1m37s779/1000. The mark is very high, of course, almost three 3 seconds above that of Charles Leclerc in the opening session, but it is logical given the state of the track.
Pierre Gasly takes to the track, the first of the 20 drivers to do so. A few seconds later his partner, Franco Colapinto, imitates him. And with him, eight other competitors.
Five minutes into the round, no cars left the garages. Everyone waits.
With his helmet reminiscent of Carlos Reutemann’s, Franco Colapinto gets into Alpine number 43, but waits a while in the car for the order to start the track.
The track is enabled for the second portion of testing for the Las Vegas GP. After a drizzle in the last few minutes, the temperature is low and no one faces the slippery American pavement from the start.
After a good performance by Pierre Gasly in the San Pablo Grand Prix (eighth in the sprint race, tenth in the main race), Alpine faces a less favorable circuit for its A525 model. One of its weak points is the Renault engine, and the long straights of Las Vegas will punish that weakness.
The track, located in the streets of Las Vegas, becomes more dangerous in the second round of practice: it rains in the Nevada desert. The asphalt itself is very non-abrasive (“it looks like a parking lot,” Colapinto described it before the grand prix), and the water now makes it more slippery. It remains to be seen what behavior the teams will take in terms of decisions and the drivers in terms of driving.
On a cold and “raw” track, the drivers had little grip and many of them continued on in a couple of corners, mainly on the escape route on lane 12. The Monegasque Charles Leclerc, with Ferrari, gave the shortest lap: 1m34s802/1000. He was closely followed by the Thai Alexander Albon, from Williams, at 166/1000, and the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda, from Red Bull, at 269/1000. The Argentine Franco Colapinto, with Alpine, was very far away, at 1s956/1000, in 20th and last place.
The Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix will take place starting at 1 this Saturday in Buenos Aires, and for one hour, the second training session. The round will be broadcast on the Fox Sports channel and the Disney+ platform and followed instantly by THE NATION.
