Ferrari lead the field in Las Vegas after drain damage drama

Charles Leclerc led Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz in a practice one-two on Friday to cap an extraordinary first night at the Las Vegas Grand Prix with the delayed track action ending at 4am in front of empty grandstands after earlier drama.

Sainz's performance was all the more impressive considering the Spaniard's car had been wrecked by a loose drain cover that forced the cancellation of first practice after just eight minutes.

White smoke and sparks erupted from the Ferrari as the cover punched a hole through the floor, leaving a trail of destruction that triggered an automatic 10-place grid penalty for Saturday night's race.

The survival cell, engine, battery and control electronics were damaged beyond repair during an incident Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur called “unacceptable”.

“It's tough for a team to arrive in Vegas and have this sort of incident,” he said as mechanics rebuilt Sainz's car.

Action resumed more than five-and-a-half hours later at 2.30am after repairs to the 6.1km course which runs down the famed Strip and against a backdrop of neon-lit hotels and casinos, but with fans cleared from the grandstands.

Despite the governing FIA recognising “highly unusual external circumstances”, Formula One stewards said Sainz would still incur a 10-place grid penalty for Saturday's race.

Alpine driver Esteban Ocon's chassis also needed to be replaced due to damage, but he also returned for second practice.

Leclerc's fastest lap of 1:35.265 was 0.517 faster than Sainz.

Fernando Alonso was third quickest for Aston Martin with Red Bull's Sergio Perez fourth and Valtteri Bottas fifth for Alfa Romeo.

Red Bull's triple world champion Max Verstappen was sixth on the time sheets before a race with little at stake for the Dutch driver who wrapped up the championship in Qatar last month.

“We managed to do the whole programme which I think was the most important for today [Friday],” said Verstappen, who has been no fan of the hype around the event and extended that to the track as well.

“I've had better tracks in my life, there's nothing new I discovered,” he said.

Mercedes' seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was more enthusiastic.

“It's incredibly fast and a lot of fun. I'm glad we got to run again. Not a good FP1 (first practice) but they did a good job to fix it,” said the Briton.

Team principals were quick to defend the new course and the huge investment that has gone into staging the event for the first time in the heart of bustling Las Vegas, a move that has drawn criticism from local residents.

“I'm still convinced the event is mega for F1,” Vasseur said, noting issues with manhole covers had affected races in Monaco and Baku in the past.

“This is probably going to be one of the most watched Grand Prix in the history of the sport,” said McLaren CEO Zak Brown.

“We have a tremendous amount of corporate partners here, lots of fans, lots of attention on this sport as a whole and I think it's [F1 owner] Liberty taking the sport to another level.”

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff lashed out at a reporter who asked how the cancelled practice was not a “black eye” for F1. “That's completely ridiculous,” Wolff said.

“How can you even dare to talk bad about an event that sets the new standard, and you're speaking about a drain cover that's been undone. It's happened before, it's nothing.”

Leclerc was also fastest in the first session, with a time of 1:40.909, followed by the Haas duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen. Verstappen was fourth.

The sessions along the transformed Strip marked F1's return to Las Vegas for the first time in nearly 40 years.