Ahead of qualifying at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and the event’s CEO Renee Wilm released a joint 650-word statement following the incidents that unfolded on the opening day, yet staggeringly failed to apologise to the fans who were told to leave.
With F1 promoting this weekend’s first race in Sin City since 1982 themselves, the sport has gone all out to ensure that it’s as big an event as possible.
Whilst the show put on has been spectacular, the on-track action from the get-go suffered a shocking failure.
Free Practice 1 was cancelled after just eight minutes, after F1 and the FIA had to complete emergency checks on the circuit.
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This was due to a loose manhole cover having ripped a hole through Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari, which has led to him taking a 10-place grid penalty due to the battery needing to be changed.
Esteban Ocon also had to be fitted with a new chassis, after his car also sustained damage after driving over the loose manhole cover.
Following an investigation, it was deemed that the concrete frame around the manhole cover had failed, resulting in all 40 manhole covers around the circuit needing to be removed and filled with asphalt.
This operation took a considerable amount of time, with Free Practice 2 having been delayed by 150 minutes.
Fans waited patiently for virtually four hours, before suddenly being told to leave by F1 just moments before FP2 finally got underway at 2:30am local time.
A reported staffing problem resulted in fans being forced to leave the circuit, in what marked an embarrassing day for F1.
Domenicali and Wilm’s joint statement addressed what happened on Saturday and expressed how they were aware of the disappointment.
Despite this, they failed to apologise to the fans who paid a huge amount of money to see eight minutes of action.
To add to the embarrassment of the situation, fans who had tickets for the opening day will not be refunded; instead, they’ve been sent a $200 voucher to spend on F1 merch.
Those who purchased three-day passes, have received no compensation for what happened.
“We have all been to events, like concerts, games and even other Formula One races, that have been cancelled because of factors like weather or technical issues,” the joint statement by Domenicali and Wilm said.
“It happens, and we hope people will understand.”
The statement contined: “We know this was disappointing. We hope our fans will understand that we had to balance many interests, including the safety and security of all participants and the fan experience over the whole race weekend.
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“So how will we address this tonight?
“We have worked overnight to adjust our staffing plans across security, transportation and hospitality to ensure that we can function and serve fans with the best possible experience in the event of an extended race schedule.
“We are excited about the racing today and thank our entire team and our fans for their support. We know this is going to be a great event. With that, let’s get back to racing.”