A thrill in Las Vegas: Formula 1 throws fans out the door

From the organizers’ point of view, the start of the Formula 1 weekend in Las Vegas could hardly have started much worse:

First the first training session had to be stopped after just 19 minutes because a manhole cover damaged Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari.

Then the organizers incur the anger of the fans in the second training session. In order to check and seal all manhole covers, the second training session had to be postponed to 2:30 a.m. local time. This required a lot of patience from the visitors.

Before this began, however, the organizers announced that the stands would have to be cleared. In the gambling metropolis, the first training session hardly took place at all and the second one took place in front of empty stands.

A tease

“For logistical reasons for our fans and staff, we have decided to close all fan areas at 1.30am. We look forward to welcoming fans back later today for the exciting FT3 and qualifying sessions,” it read a statement from the organizer, which was later deleted.

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The reason could be that the security staff’s shifts simply ended and the spectators had to be sent home.

For those die-hard fans who had held out for so long despite the disappointing first training session and the low temperatures, it was of course a bit of a grind. Especially since many people only got Friday tickets due to the high demand.