Carlos Sainz says "unacceptable” pre-race oil spill caused start chaos at F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix

Carlos Sainz says a classic car dropping oil on the grid created “unacceptable” conditions at the start of F1’s Las Vegas Grand Prix. 
Fernando Alonso (ESP) Aston Martin F1 Team AMR23 spins ahead of Valtteri Bottas (FIN) Alfa Romeo F1 Team C43 at the start of
Fernando Alonso (ESP) Aston Martin F1 Team AMR23 spins ahead of Valtteri Bottas (FIN) Alfa…

A classic car that was meant to drive Lewis Hamilton around for the customary pre-race parade lap broke down and leaked oil all over the left-hand side of the grid around an hour ✃and a half before the start.&𒊎nbsp;

Following a clear-up effort, larg𝐆e patches of cement dust were left cover𒅌ing the track to soak up the spillage. 

And Sai🌳nz reckons the dirty track played a role in the chaotic scenes at the start as both he and Fernando Alonso suffered spiꦑns at Turn 1. 

“I saw a lot of oil from the cars that we used to do the drivers parade, which is another thing for the FIA to look at, because it is not fair that all the oil was on the inside line,”ꦐ the Ferrari driver said. 

“Apart from the dirty trac🤪k already being there, on top of that, we put cars that are leaking oil into the track one hour before the race – it’s unacceptable. 

“That probably ca🎃used a lot of the crashes into Turn 1.”

Fernando Alonso (ESP) Aston Martin F1 Team AMR23 and Valtteri Bottas (FIN) Alfa Romeo F1 Team C43 collide at the start of
Fernando Alonso (ESP) Aston Martin F1 Team AMR23 and Valtteri Bottas (FIN) Alfa Romeo F1 Team…

Race-win🥀ner Max Verstappen admitted the oil spill💧 was “not ideal”. 

“It was a classic cars, from the drive🅠r’s parade,꧑” the Dutchman added. 

“So that’s maybe something that we have to look into because it’s a bit of a shame that happens. I had to steer bit left of it ꦕat the start.”

Pierre Gasly, who started a season’s best fou🦋rth for Alpine, believ🌸es it created unfair conditions at the start of the race. 

”It wasn't nice, especially lining up on the best spot of the year for us,” said the Frenchmen, who ultimately 🅰finished 11th. 

"I've discussed it already with FIA, and I'm sure we'll change a few things, because it doesn't feel really fair that some guy's got to start on oil and some others have clear Tarmac. I'm sure they'll fix🔜 it.”

Mercedes’ George Russell, who started alongside Gasly in third, said: “It's not the first time we've seen these historical cars dꦐropping oil.

"I💮t was pretty shocking to see how bad it was. But they did a good job to clear it up for the race."

Read More