The FIA explained the situation with the hatch during the second practice.

      The second free practice session for the Las Vegas Grand Prix was stopped twice with red flags because of a manhole cover in front of Turn 17. The FIA released a statement explaining the situation.

      "After a marshal reported a possibly loose manhole cover in front of Turn 17, race control was unable to confirm this information from the available camera recordings," the FIA said. "As a precaution, the session was suspended with red flags and race control personnel went to the scene to assess the situation.

      After the session resumed, some race control staff remained on site. They reported that the manhole cover continued to shift as cars went over it. As a result the session was stopped again with red flags. Further checks are being carried out."

      This is not the first time city manholes have caused problems on the Las Vegas circuit. In 2023 an opened manhole damaged the floor of Carlos Sainz's Ferrari. In addition to the floor, the impact broke the seat and damaged several power unit components. The team had to replace the battery on Sainz's car, and the driver received a 10-place grid penalty for that.

      Today there was no damage to the race cars.