The The 3.8-mile track has already seen some memorable momentsone of which was when Carlos Sainz hit a drain plug that wrecked his Ferrari during the opening practice session.

The Spaniard was on a set-up lap when he hit the cap just eight minutes into the session, sending a storm of sparks into the air. The incident caused Ferrari to change its entire power unit, triggering a 10-place grid penalty for the race.

Discussing how he plans to prevent a similar scenario from happening again this year, Las Vegas GP General Manager Terry Miller explained the new protocols in place when he spoke to The Athletic.

Las Vegas GP GM explains ‘new protocols’ to prevent spill incidents

F1 will be keen to avoid any further disruptions to this year’s race weekend after identifying it was a loose water valve cover that caused significant damage to Sainz’s Ferrari.

FP1 was effectively cancelled, then FP2 was delayed so long that it was close to 4:00am when the public roads had to reopen and the police asked fans to leave the track due to a lack of staff to take care of the tribunes.

While Promoter GP Las Vegas has changed practice and qualifying time this year, Miller explained that new protocols are in place for this year to prevent any similar issues from disrupting the weekend.

“Because of what happened last year, we actually have a protocol and a process that we’ve gone through over the last five months to secure the caps, even to the point where we’ll do three or four visual checks of what’s happens on the roadway before and after a racing event,” Miller said.

“You can never guarantee that nothing will happen. But you can certainly have mitigation efforts to reduce the risk, and that’s what we did.”

Max Verstappen is on the verge of winning his fourth Formula 1 World Championship in Las Vegas

Las Vegas could be the place where Max Verstappen wins his fourth F1 World Championship after significantly overtaking his title rival Lando Norris at the Brazilian GP to go 62 points ahead.

Norris needs to finish ahead of Verstappen to keep his mathematical chances alive, which looks like a big ask if Red Bull are on the pace from the start of the weekend.

Ferrari are also expected to be strong in Las Vegas, which will put even more pressure on McLaren, especially as they try to defend their lead in the Constructors’ Championship.

They may have received a lifeline from their title rivals, however, after The FIA ​​has now banned an ‘illegal’ part from Ferrari’s car after a protest from Red Bull.

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