Esteban Ocon defends the spectators evacuated from the stands during the second free practice session
The fans were unable to attend the second free practice session, due to the two and a half hour delay caused by Carlos Sainz's accident in FP1 and the lack of security personnel. After the session, Alpine driver Esteban Ocon expressed his sympathy for the spectators expelled from the stands.
A long wait just to not see the second free practice session. That’s what happened to the fans who came to witness this first day of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. The session was delayed for two and a half hours to complete track inspections and safety checks. The reason being that a sewer grate came loose and hit Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari, and then Esteban Ocon’s Alpine.
After this very long moment, the EL2 session took place, but the security guards, paid by the hour, were no longer available to monitor the audience, who were scattered in the different stands. The Grand Prix organizers made the decision to ask the spectators to leave the circuit premises.
« I hope we will have a good show for them tomorrow »
The second practice session lasted an hour and a half, in order to make up for the less than 10 minutes where the F1 cars were able to drive during FP1 before the red flag caused by the manhole cover hitting Carlos Sainz’s car. After these FP2, Esteban Ocon expressed his disappointment that the fans, who had paid several hundred euros to watch the practice, were expelled from the circuit.
“It’s good to finally have been able to race. Obviously, I’m sorry for the fans. I hope we can make up for the show and have a good race for them tomorrow because they didn’t see any cars on the track today and that’s obviously not acceptable,” said Esteban Ocon.
I was lucky that the session was delayed because my car was severely damaged in EL1. It was quite an eventful and emotional day, I must say. Fortunately, I am also fine because the object could have easily gone through the car. I have a new car, which wasn’t really part of the plan, the Frenchman continued.
Obviously, it’s disappointing, but I suppose that if we hadn’t done the Free Practice (FP) 2, then it probably would have been canceled and we would have gone to FP3. So, at least this way, maybe the fans were able to, at the very least, watch on television,” explained Daniel Ricciardo.
« We try to stay positive, but it is obviously a difficult situation. However, I don’t want to badmouth the sport either. It’s the first time here, it’s a huge project, and unfortunately, things have happened. I know that nobody wanted them to happen, but I suppose they did the best they could with what they had. We are all in the same boat, we are all trying to make it work. Of course, it is late and everyone is probably a little grouchy, but at least we have run a bit, the Australian driver positively highlighted.
