Haren
The qualifying session for the Las Vegas Grand Prix was delayed after Williams driver Franco Colapinto had a nasty crash which left the track covered in debris
Towards the end of the Q2 session, Colapinto was making his way through turn 16 on the Las Vegas street circuit when he lost control of his car in the left side wall. Colapinto’s car was seen skidding across the track colliding with the opposite wall, then continuing to slide down the circuit before coming to a complete stop.
The impact knocked off his front-left wheel and he endured a heavy impact too, with onboard replays showing Colapinto’s head bouncing around the cockpit.
The Argentine driver hit the wall hard but climbed out of the car, telling his garage “I’m ok”.
The wreck left plenty of debris all over the track as carbon fiber and one of Colapinto’s tires was left behind him.
The damage to the track barriers has resulted in a significant delay to qualifying proceedings, with the FIA confirming repairs to the infrastructure required: “There’s a lot of debris on track and some potential barrier repairs needed, the circuit operations team are currently working on this”.
This crash adds to the woeful time Williams has had of late, with James Vowles admitting its crashes in Mexico and Brazil have cost it upwards of $3 million.
Colapinto and team-mate Albon crashed during qualifying in Brazil, with Colapinto suffering another major shunt during the grand prix.
Max Verstappen can seal his fourth consecutive Driver’s Championship this weekend if results go his way, though McLaren and Lando Norris have been tipped to outdo the Dutchman in Nevada. The Red Bull driver is 62 points ahead of Norris after winning in Brazil last time out, with 60 points available after Vegas, allowing Norris to need to be within 59 points to keep his hopes alive
