Carlos Sainz has been hit with a ten-place grid penalty at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, despite the damage to his car being caused by a track fault.
The first practice session came to an end after just nine minutes after Sainz drove over a loose manhole cover on the main straight, with Esteban Ocon's car also suffering damage as a red flag was waved.
All the manhole covers around the track were then checked, delayed proceedings further and it was not until 2:30am local time that the second practice session got up and running.
Ferrari meanwhile attempted to fix Sainz's car, which had suffered damage to the chassis, engine and battery, and the team therefore requested special dispensation to use an additional power unit element.
Stewards rejected that appeal though, stating there was no option but to enforce the regulations.
A statement read: "Notwithstanding the fact that the damage was caused by highly unusual external circumstances, Article 2.1 of the Formula 1 Sporting Regulations obliges all officials, including the Stewards, to apply the regulations as they are written.
“Accordingly, the mandatory penalty specified under Article 28.3 of the Sporting Regulations must be applied.
“The Stewards note that if they had the authority to grant a derogation in what they consider in this case to be mitigating, unusual and unfortunate circumstances, they would have done so, however the regulations do not allow such action.”
Sainz has been forced to use an additional energy store, his third of the season, meaning he has exceeded the limit and will drop down the grid for Sunday's race.
Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur hit out at the "unacceptable" situation, as he detailed the damage to the car.
"I think it's just unacceptable" ❌
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) November 17, 2023
Frédéric Vasseur was not happy after FP1 after damage caused to Carlos Sainz's Ferrari from an issue with a manhole cover on track 👇 pic.twitter.com/mz7owgTWfP
"We damaged completely the monocoque, the engine, the battery," he said. "I think it’s just unacceptable.""It cost us a fortune. We f***** up the session for Carlos."
McLaren boss Zak Brown commented: "Yeah for sure, you've got to say that's force majeure. Nothing of their own doing, a very unfortunate unique incident. I was a bit surprised to see that, we need to be a bit more sporting when something like that happens.
"We know in F1 a lot of self interest from time to time, something like that's unique. I don't know who [objected] but I'm guessing someone in competition with them. A little unfair."
