Last night, first practice for the first Las Vegas GP lasted a total of eight minutes. A loose drainage cover was pulled up by Carlos Sainz's Ferrari, and not only did it ruin Sainz's car (and weekend, he got a 10 grid place penalty because of the damage), but it also ruined the night for F1 fans.
Free practice one was canceled, and by the time free practice two was ready to go at 2:30 am for an extended 90 minute session, all fans were cleared out and made to leave. It was not a great start to what is supposed to be a marquee weekend of the F1 calendar. Add to that outrageous pricing that's plummeted in recent days, traffic disruptions that are infuriating locals, temperatures that are far colder than F1 expected because nobody Googled how cold the desert gets before planning a night race in November, and a multi-time champion who seems less than impressed by the overall event, and you have a race weekend that's begging to be criticized.
Now, I'm not on TikTok and don't use it, but the younger, hipper members of the Motor1 and InsideEVs staff are, and they've seen people ripping the race weekend apart. Below are just a few examples:
@thef1journals fever dream of an opening ceremony in vegas #f1 #formula1 #f1lasvegas #vegasgp #hungergames #fyp #foryou ♬ The Hanging Tree - James Newton Howard
@danimorin13 I always like to look at the silver lining. Which is 1. The food was amazing. 2. We still have two more nights and hopefully they will get it together get the potholes filled, and provide an enjoyable and safe race for our drivers..and 3. We are in vegas with friends and it doesnt get any better than that! #f1lasvegas #f1vegas2023 #formula1lasvegs #momsnightout ♬ Ballet song like "Waltz of flowers" _ 5 minutes(965273) - yulu-ism project
@tshepif1 Only 9 minutes of cars on track… FIA: “Following inspection, it was the concrete frame around a manhole cover that has failed. Now need to check all the other manhole covers, which will take some time.” “Will be discussing with circuit engineering team about length of time it will take to resolve and will update with any changes to schedule.” #lasvegasgp #vegasgp #vegasgrandprix #lasvegasgrandprix #formula1 #formulaone #formula1tiktok #f1tiktok #greenscreen ♬ original sound - ✧༺♡༻✧
@kevingreig4 #f1 #f1tiktok #f1vegas #f1vegas2023 #f1lasvegas #f1lasvegasgp2023 #f1lasvegasgp2023 #vegastiktok #lasvegas #vegasstrip ♬ Oh No - Kreepa
If you have more examples, drop them in the comments below. Hopefully the rest of the weekend goes better than last night.
