Las Vegas Grand Prix hit with lawsuit after practice cancelled
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
A worker hammering in sand used to fill a drain hole on the track during the first practice session for the Las Vegas Formula One Grand Prix on Nov 16.
PHOTO: AFP
LAS VEGAS – The troubled Las Vegas Grand Prix has been hit with a class-action lawsuit, after the Formula One race’s first practice session was cancelled when Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari was badly damaged by a loose drain cover.
The highly anticipated first action on the neon-lit circuit, which includes a section along the famed Las Vegas Strip, lasted a little over eight minutes on Nov 16 before coming to a halt.
What followed was a 5½-hour break while crews removed all 30 covers along the 6.2km layout and filled the holes with sand and asphalt.
A second 90-minute practice session kicked off in front of empty grandstands at 2.30am on Nov 17, long after fans had been cleared out in a move officials said was a necessary safety precaution.
The organisers attempted damage control, offering US$200 (S$269) merchandise vouchers to single-day ticket holders.
The compensation did not extend to those who had purchased three-day passes.
Dimopoulos Law Firm and co-counsel JK Legal & Consulting said they had filed a class-action lawsuit against the GP in Nevada state court on Nov 17 on behalf of the 35,000 people who purchased tickets to the first-day practice, but were deprived of much action.
The lawsuit named Formula One owner and race promoter Liberty Media, the GP and TAB Contractors, the company tasked with track maintenance, as defendants.
“There are a number of issues with that (compensation),” attorney Steve Dimopoulos told Reuters in a phone interview on Nov 18. “Clearly that (US$200 merchandise voucher) is not a refund that is sufficient.
“A lot of fans probably don’t even want that, they want their money back.
“There are also peripheral issues of what about the people that came in from out of town and paid for substantial air fare and hotels.”
The decision to send fans home was made out of concern for public safety and security officials who had been on duty for a long time, the GP’s chief executive officer Renee Wilm and F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said in a joint statement.
Qualifying took place on Nov 17 and was completed without incident, as did the Nov 18 race, which was won by Red Bull’s three-time world champion Max Verstappen – his 18th win of a record-breaking season.
Sainz, who started 12th after a 10-place grid penalty in qualifying, finished sixth.
F1 did not immediately respond to a request for comment. REUTERS
