F1 officials inspect the troublesome manhole cover at the Las Vegas GP’s Turn 17 after FP2 on Thursday night. Kym Illman / Getty Images
Nov. 21, 2025Updated Nov. 22, 2025 6:15 pm EST
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LAS VEGAS — Formula One race officials have taken preventive measures to stop manhole covers around the Las Vegas street circuit from coming loose, after concerns led to practice being stopped twice Thursday night.
A marshal reported that a manhole cover at the track’s high-speed Turn 17 section appeared loose during Thursday’s second practice session for the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix, leading to the session being red-flagged with 21 minutes of the one-hour time limit remaining while inspections took place.
Although officials were confident after inspecting the manhole cover that proceedings were safe to resume with six minutes left on the clock, the session was stopped again with one minute to go because of the same problem.
Ahead of final practice Friday afternoon, the FIA stated that the Turn 17 manhole had been disassembled and further inspected. It said a “specific fault was found with the closure mechanism.”
A spokesperson for the FIA said the issue was addressed overnight by track maintenance workers, with the manhole cover being welded “to provide further mitigation” against the problem recurring.
Additional inspections were also conducted on all other manhole covers on or close to the racing line around the 3.85-mile circuit, with additional welding applied to a further 14 manhole assemblies.
The track layout incorporates the famous Las Vegas Strip, which means it is reopened to local traffic overnight and during the morning to allow vehicles to move around before the roads are closed again in the hours leading to the start of F1 track action each day of the event.
At the inaugural running of the Las Vegas Grand Prix in 2023, a loose water-valve cover led to the cancellation of opening practice after eight minutes of running, with significant delays to the start of FP2 later in the day. The rest of the weekend went by without incident.
On Thursday night, the F1 Academy support series qualifying session took place after the F1 FP2 session. It was completed as planned, with only a two-minute delay to its start as officials continued to check the Turn 17 manhole.
The final F1 practice session of the Las Vegas race weekend is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. PT on Friday, ahead of the qualifying session beginning at 8 p.m.
Nov 23, 2025
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