Watch: Carlos Sainz's Ferrari rips off the drain cover in the 2023 F1 Las Vegas GP FP1

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz brought the 2023 F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix Free Practice 1 to a premature end as he ripped off the drain cover on the long straight at the track.

The Spanish driver was slowly getting accustomed to the new track in Las Vegas but met an unfortunate end when the drain cover ripped off the underbody floor of the SF-23. In a video circulating on social media, the harsh impact of the incident on the car and the track is pretty visible.

It is unclear whether the Ferrari driver was on a fast push lap or warming up for another timed lap at the circuit. A heavy rebuild is on the cards for the team before the FP2 session as they have to work quickly to get the car ready.

Ferrari give their statement on the Carlos Sainz incident in FP1

It is already confirmed that Carlos Sainz will not take part in the FP2 session at the Las Vegas GP. The damage to the floor of his car is too great and it will take too big an effort from the crew to get it fixed in time.

As per ESPN, Ferrari team boss Frederic Vassuer called the whole situation "unacceptable."

"What he said is I think it was on the [radio], 'I hit something on the track', he didn't know exactly what it was. The situation is we damaged completely the monocoque, the engine, the batteries... and I think it's just unacceptable."

He added:

"I'm not sure this is the topic for me today. We had a very tough FP1, it cost us a fortune, we f----- up the session for Carlos, we won't be part of the FP2 for sure, we have to change the chassis, half the car, to set-up the car, okay the show is the show and everything is going well but I think it's just unacceptable for the F1 today."

Carlos Sainz has not made any statement so far about the unfortunate incident. Time will tell if the Spaniard and Ferrari can bounce back on Friday for the qualifying session, as they will only have FP3 in front of them to get used to the track this weekend.

After the incident, F1 and FIA released a statement informing everyone about the work being done to repair the drain covers throughout the strip so that they could avoid any further stoppages.