The race promoters did not apologize to the fans

The world press, commenting on yesterday’s events in Las Vegas, did not try to find words of sympathy for the organizers of the new city race, in which hundreds of millions of dollars were invested. The start of the weekend turned out to be clearly hazy and for many simply ruined by an incident in which the Ferrari and Alpine cars suffered very serious damage.

A detailed analysis of the incident showed that a malfunction of one of the elements of the drainage system could have led to much more unpleasant consequences, but fortunately no one was physically injured.

Guido van der Garde, former Formula 1 driver, said on TV channel VIaplay: “The blame for this lies with the FIA, they simply made a miscalculation.”

Sports news agency Sportza summed it up: “You see what happens when the show becomes the priority.” And the Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat called it “A noisy farce in the middle of the night.”

But there was one more point that many paid attention to. Formula 1, together with the race organizers, released an official statement with a detailed 650-word explanation of what happened, and we have quoted it. This is what David Croft, who commentates racing with Martin Brundle on Sky Sports F1, writes about this document:

“While a full explanation of what happened yesterday is welcome, and there are quite a few words in it, the very first word there should be the word ‘sorry,’ right? It’s a shame he’s not there at the beginning or the end, he’s not there at all.”

The authors of the statement, Stefano Domenicali, president of Formula 1, and Rene Wilm, executive director of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, limited themselves to saying that they appreciate the patience of the public and thank them for their support and understanding . But it appears that they are not willing to admit their guilt, although the tone of critical publications would probably be a little softer if they did, even formally and partially.

The problem is not actually that an unforeseen incident has occurred on the track, as there is always the possibility of some technical glitches, but in the way the organizers acted during yesterday’s situation and how they responded to it.

It is worth quoting a few words from an article on this topic that appeared on the pages of The Race: “It is quite possible that the rest of the weekend in Las Vegas will be a success, in accordance with the much-discussed high standards that were promised in advance. But at the same time, Formula 1 must think about what was done wrong, and it is not just about the problem that occurred on the track.”