Chaos in Las Vegas as manhole cover disrupts F1 practice
Red Bull, Ferrari, and Mercedes left scratching their heads after a bizarre practice day on the Strip where a loose manhole cover ultimately cut the session short.
Charles Leclerc topped the first practice in his Ferrari, with Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda both showing strong pace by finishing in the top four.
But things got weird in the second session.
A loose manhole cover brought out the red flag, forcing drivers to sit in their garages while track officials scrambled to fix the problem. Many teams waited even longer, hoping others would clear the dust and water from the track surface.
When drivers finally ventured out on medium tires, Leclerc again set the pace, though the competition was tight. Lando Norris, George Russell, and Verstappen were all within four-tenths of the Ferrari driver.
Then came the soft tire runs – and that’s when everything went sideways.
Most frontrunners couldn’t improve their times on the softer compound, which normally provides better grip and faster laps. Leclerc actually went slower on softs than he did on mediums.
The Red Bull drivers and Russell didn’t even manage to set times on the soft tires before officials called it quits. That loose manhole cover still wasn’t properly secured, forcing them to abandon the session completely.
“The balance feels good, but I honestly have no idea where we stand,” Verstappen admitted afterward. With no proper qualifying simulation and zero long-run data, Red Bull is flying blind heading into the weekend.
Tsunoda echoed his teammate’s feelings but seemed slightly more optimistic about their chances. Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase backed up this cautious optimism.
Last year’s Vegas winner George Russell isn’t feeling so confident. Despite Mercedes showing improved form throughout the 2025 season, Russell and teammate Kimi Antonelli worry their car might struggle in the specific conditions of Las Vegas – cold temperatures on a low-grip surface.
McLaren, surprisingly, left practice with the biggest smiles.
“The car feels much better here than in previous years,” said Norris, who topped the abbreviated second practice session. McLaren has historically struggled at low-downforce circuits in cold conditions, making their apparent pace even more encouraging.
Oscar Piastri couldn’t set a quick time on softs, but he also felt the car was handling the Las Vegas Strip Circuit much better than expected.
So who’s actually fastest? Nobody really knows.
The interrupted sessions mean teams have more questions than answers. McLaren seems confident, but that might be premature given how little representative running we’ve seen.
One thing’s for sure – qualifying should be fascinating as teams figure things out on the fly without their usual mountain of practice data.
