Azerbaijan Grand Prix: First practice cancelled after manhole cover ripped up from circuit in farcical scenes

Safety concerns threatened to derail the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after a manhole drain cover was ripped open early in the first practice session amid farcical scenes in Baku.

The Williams of George Russell sustained significant damage to the floor after ripping the manhole cover up, resulting in an immediate red flag due to unsafe track conditions.

The incident happened at high-speed on the run to Turn Three and appeared to rip a large chunk of the rear diffuser off the car, leaving debris scattered across the street circuit that is hosting the fourth grand prix of the season.

“I got the biggest smack through my body,” Russell told Sky Sports F1 afterwards. “The whole engine turned off, it’s ruined the floor and I’m a bit worried for the chassis now.

“The session won’t be going green until it’s sorted. We were on the normal racing line and it’s completely ruined our session.

“It’s not what we need at this stage."

The FIA race director confirmed that the session needed to be stopped to carry out track repairs, before the decision was taken to cancel the entire practice session – despite there being more than an hour remaining – in order to check every drain cover around the circuit, with more than 300 needing to be assessed to ensure they are safe to race over.

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However, the situation turned farcical when the recovery lorry retrieving Russell’s stranded Williams collided with a bridge, causing the pneumatic lifting arm to break and leave the Briton’s car stranded on the flatbed truck.

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After a lengthy wait, the Williams mechanics were eventually able to use another crane to winch the car off the lorry and return it to the garage, but the team were not impressed with the condition of the track and the subsequent damage that it has caused and Russell will also miss second practice after Williams confirmed the need for a full chassis change.

A Williams statement read: "George's car will require a chassis change due to the damage caused by the loose drain cover. Therefore due to regulations he will not be able to run until FP3 tomorrow."

Claire Williams, deputy team principal of the Grove-based outfit, voiced the frustration of the team.

“It’s clear from the data and what everyone can see that there is a lot of damage to the floor of the car and who knows what else,” said Williams. “We’ll need to wait and see until we get it back to the extent of that.

“We’ll have to wait and see if that chassis is repairable or if we have to go to our third chassis. It’s clearly not what we want and it’s not what you expect from a Formula 1 track. These drain covers are supposed to be bolted down.

“We’ll be picking that up with race control.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was equally as bemused by events.

"It's a calamity of errors," said Horner. "I've never seen that before."

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Reigning world champion and current championship leader Lewis Hamilton also called out race organisers for not checking track conditions before the first session of the weekend.

“How could they have not checked and sealed the drains,” Hamilton posted in his Instagram page. “Oh well, just gives me extra time to catch up on Game of Thrones.”

Once the second practice session was eventually cleared to commence, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc recorded the fastest time, ahead of his teammate Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.