The start of Q3 for the Las Vegas Grand Prix was postponed after a serious crash by Williams Racing driver Franco Colapinto.
Towards the end of the Q2 session, Colapinto was making his way through Turn 16 at the Las Vegas street circuit when he lost control of his car into the left side wall.
Colapinto’s car then slid across the track and collided with the opposite wall before sliding further around the circuit before coming to a complete stop.
The 21-year-old driver was able to get out of the car fine and told his garage: ‘I’m doing fine’.
The wreck left a lot of debris all over the track, as carbon fiber and one of Colapinto’s tires were left behind him.
Additionally, the impact of the wreck forced marshals to examine the barriers for any damage that may need to be repaired.
Williams Racing driver Franco Colapinto skids to a stop after a wreck in Las Vegas
Williams now faces the task of repairing his car for the second time in as many race weeks
More than 25 minutes after Colapinto’s wreck, the track was finally cleared for racing and Q3 could begin.
Williams will now have to almost completely rebuild the chassis of Colapinto’s car – and will do so as the Grand Prix is less than 24 hours away.
This is the second race week in a row in which Williams has to rebuild the young Argentinian’s car after an accident in qualifying.
Two weeks ago in Sao Paulo, in slippery qualifying conditions, Colapinto lost control coming off the Senna ‘S’s’ at Interlagos. He spun across the track and crashed into a barrier.
A day later, during the Grand Prix itself, Colapinto lost control in the rain and crashed into the barriers again.
Currently, Colapinto is P19 in the standings with five points – ahead of Liam Lawson, Zhou Guanyu, the man he replaced – Logan Sargeant – and Valtteri Bottas.