Carlos Sainz hails Ferrari mechanics’ ‘heroic effort’ to fix the damaged parts of his SF-23 after the drain cover incident ahead of Las Vegas GP

Carlos Sainz spoke about the Ferrari mechanic’s ‘heroic efforts’ for getting the SF-23 fixed ahead of FP2 after being hit by a loose drain cover during the first Practice Session.

Carlos Sainz hails Ferrari mechanics’ ‘heroic effort’ to fix the damaged parts of his SF-23 after the drain cover incident ahead of Las Vegas GP

Carlos Sainz at the Las Vegas GP (via imago)

The opening day of the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix witnessed a shameful, start to the highly awaited Grand Prix weekend. Ferrari Driver, Carlos Sainz’s SF-23 was hit by a loose drain cover as he was putting in a hot-lap during the FP1 session at Vegas. The F1 organisers shamefully looked over the several loose drain covers around the 6.2 km street circuit, these other covers were only brought into the attention following Sainz’s hazardous incident.

The incident absolutely shattered the floor of Sainz’s car and also damaged several other components including the main engine. The other drain covers discovered after Sainz’s incident needed fixing, which meant that the FP1 session was cancelled and the subsequent FP2 session was postponed to 2.30 am local time – around 2 hours 30 mins behind schedule. This gave the Ferrari mechanics only a finite amount of time to mend Sainz’s SF-23 for the eventual FP2 session. The Mechanics pulled the miracle off and Sainz started the FP2 session, the Spaniard even claimed P2 at the end of it.

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Carlos Sainz addressed the efforts taken by his team to repair his car [as reported by Motorsport.com].

FS Video
Unfortunately, obviously a chassis, the power unit, the battery, even my seat was damaged after the incident, which involved a huge effort from all the mechanics and the team to put together a completely brand-new car for FP2 that allowed me to complete the session, which was, in my opinion, a heroic effort.

Sainz also qualified in P2 for the Grand Prix as he finished behind his teammate in a successful Q3 session for Ferrari. However, the Spaniard will have to start from P12 after being penalized a 10 place grid penalty, unfairly, for the drain cover incident.

Frédéric Vasseur terms Carlos Sainz’s 10 place Grid Penalty ‘absolutely unacceptable’

Carlos Sainz, following the drain cover incident, which was a shocking incident which originated from a huge and shameful oversight of the safety conditions by the Formula 1 organisers, was left with a heavily damaged car. There were several parts of the car that required changing and the engine was a primary one. According to the FIA’s rulebook, if any team utilises an extra engine than their allotted number, they are handed a 10-place grid penalty.

Frederic Vasseur (via Imago)
Frederic Vasseur (via Imago)

Following the rules, Sainz, who was hampered through no fault of his own, was handed a 10 place grid penalty. Ferrari’s Boss, Frédéric Vasseur, commented on the unfair judgement and penalization from the officials in the ‘Team Principal’s press conference’. 

What Carlos said was he hit something on track and didn't know exactly what it was. We completely damaged the monocoque, engine and battery. It's just unacceptable.

Vasseur entered into a minor debate against Toto Wolff, the Mercedes man as Wolf claimed the drain cover was not a ‘black eye’ for the entire sport and the inaugural weekend at Sin City. The Ferrari Boss, however, maintained his stance as he said that the Liberty media have not failed in putting up a good show while also citing the major safety issue of the drain covers and Sainz’s penalization that followed.