F1 News
More trouble for F1 fans in Las Vegas? FP3 must be delayed say regulations
A loose water valve cover on the Las Vegas strip ended FP1 after less than ten minutes of action. The FIA cancelled the rest of FP1 and then had to delay the start of FP2 by more than two hours whilst the track was made safe. According to the regulations, those delays will pass onto the second day of action during the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend.
Sporting regulations
The sporting regulations suggest that the FIA will be forced to delay the start of the FP3 schedule. The regulations state: "At each Competition where a sprint session is not scheduled, FP3 lasting one hour and starting no less than 18 hours after the end of FP2, will take place on the second day of on-track running".
FP2 finished at 4am local time (12pm UK time), which means that, according to the regulations, FP3 cannot start until 10pm local time on Friday evening. The third free practice was initially scheduled for 20:30pm, meaning a further 90-minute delay.
The regulations also suggest that qualifying must be pushed further into the night. It is currently scheduled to start at midnight local time, which would be only one hour after the conclusion of FP3.
"When a sprint session is not scheduled, on the second day of on-track running [qualifying] will start no less than two (2) hours, and no more than three (3) hours after the end of P3," the regulation states. If they follow the above plan, then qualifying will not be allowed to start until at least 1am local time [9am UK time].
Trouble for the fans
During the lengthy gap between FP1 and FP2, the fans were forced to leave the Las Vegas circuit. This was deemed to be because of "logistical considerations". This occurred at 1:30am PT, so one wonders whether the same will happen during qualifying. Presumably, a confirmed delayed start will mean stewards can arrive later in the grandstands, so a similar incident should be avoided.
Whether F1, the FIA and the teams will agree or even discuss making an exception to the regulations remains to be seen. The rules are believed to be in place to ensure the engineers have enough time to rest, recover and prepare the cars for the following session. The enforced gap between FP3 and qualifying is in place to allow engineers to fix any FP3 repairs.