After the issues with the track that caused Free Practice 1 to be cancelled in the Las Vegas Grand Prix, another problem has emerged in the hour before the start of the penultimate race of the season.
Taking to social media, journalist Chris Medland has spotted something that happened during the driver’s parade that won’t please the drivers and Martin Brundle agreed live on Sky Sports F1.
There’s already been plenty of controversy surrounding the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
After just nine minutes of the first practice session of the weekend, Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari was seriously damaged.
The concrete surrounding a manhole cover was lifted up by his car and forced him to change his battery and other engine parts.
It meant he had to take a ten-place grid penalty despite the damage not being his fault, something that has been widely disagreed with within the sport.
It’s very unfortunate for Sainz, who would have qualified on the front row of the grid alongside teammate Charles Leclerc otherwise.
However, another problem has now emerged with the Las Vegas track in the final hour before the race starts.
It’s the last thing the race’s organisers need as the cars prepare to head to the grid.
Another problem emerges with Las Vegas track
Posting on X, formerly Twitter, Medland shared a photo of the start/finish line and said: “Oh no. There’s been a lot of something leak onto the grid from the classic cars used for the driver parade. Plenty of clean-up work going on #F1 #LasVegasGP.”
Speaking on the live broadcast of the event for Sky Sports, it was determined that Oscar Piastri’s car was the culprit and had leaked oil onto the circuit.
The clean-up operation was already underway and right in front of Max Verstappen’s grid spot.
Danica Patrick shared more details on the issue and said: “Well, that’s definitely unfortunate for those on the inside.
“This is definitely going to be a loss of grip, this is very unfortunate. I don’t know what they’re going to be able to do about it.
“Are they going to be able to run cars over it for quite a while before? Probably not.
“It’s a busy grid, this is an issue.”
Martin Brundle added: “And it’s on the dirty side of the grid that was always going to be slippery anyway, so that’s really bad news for Verstappen and all of those behind him.”
The last thing the drivers will want to deal with now is another problem with the track in Las Vegas.
What happened to Carlos Sainz’s car will already in the back of their minds although precautions have been taken to avoid a similar incident occurring.
Those on the dirty side of the grid will hope the leak is completely cleared away before the race starts.
Otherwise, we could see further delays to what’s already going to be the latest race start in F1 history.
