Empty grandstands at Las Vegas GP as chaotic practice session takes place at 3am

The grandstands at F1’s Las Vegas Grand Prix were close to empty during Thursday night’s (16 November) chaotic practice.

Session one was cancelled after just nine minutes when a broken drain cover damaged Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari.

The second practice was subsequently pushed back by over two hours, as officials worked to inspect the track.

By the time drivers returned to the circuit - around 2:30am local time on Friday morning, the grandstands were empty.

A statement from F1 confirmed that all fan areas were closed at 1:30am - before the second session started - “due to logistical considerations for our fans and our staff”.