Loose Drain Cover Stops F1 Testing for 2nd Day in a Row

Formula One F1 - Pre-Season Testing - Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain - February 23, 2024 Members of the Bahrain International Circuit emergency maintenance team prepare the race track REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
Formula One F1 - Pre-Season Testing - Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain - February 23, 2024 Members of the Bahrain International Circuit emergency maintenance team prepare the race track REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
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Loose Drain Cover Stops F1 Testing for 2nd Day in a Row

Formula One F1 - Pre-Season Testing - Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain - February 23, 2024 Members of the Bahrain International Circuit emergency maintenance team prepare the race track REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
Formula One F1 - Pre-Season Testing - Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain - February 23, 2024 Members of the Bahrain International Circuit emergency maintenance team prepare the race track REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

A loose drain cover at the side of the track caused a long delay to Formula 1 preseason testing for the second day in a row Friday.
The cover flew up when Red Bull's Sergio Perez drove over a curb, causing a red-flag stoppage to the morning session after just half an hour amid repairs and an inspection of the area.
“Another day, another drain,” Red Bull wrote on X, formerly Twitter, as the team checked Perez's car for possible damage to the floor.
It was in the same part of the track where another loose cover caused disruption the day before. Thursday’s incident left debris scattered across the track and caused similar delays after two cars ran over the loose cover.
Drains have been a persistent problem for F1 in recent years, though typically on street circuits, not permanent racing venues like Bahrain.
Carlos Sainz Jr.'s Ferrari was badly damaged by a water valve cover in practice for the Las Vegas Grand Prix in November and George Russell's Williams car was wrecked in 2019 when it hit a drain cover in practice in Azerbaijan.



‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
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‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)

The Paris Olympics look likely to get off to a soggy start.

Meteo-France, the French weather service, is predicting “flooding rains” Friday evening when the opening ceremony is set to unroll along the Seine River. But the show is set to go on as planned, starting at 1:30 p.m. EDT/7:30 p.m. CEST and should last more than three hours.

Already in the late afternoon, skies were gray with intermittent drizzle. There was a silver lining, though, with temperatures expected to stay relatively warm throughout the evening.

Instead of a traditional march into a stadium, about 6,800 athletes will parade on more than 90 boats on the Seine River for 6 kilometers (3.7 miles). Though 10,700 athletes are expected to compete at these Olympics, hundreds of soccer players are based outside Paris, surfers are in Tahiti and many have yet to arrive for their events in the second week, organizers said Thursday.

Hundreds of thousands of people, including 320,000 paying and invited ticket-holders, are expected to line the Seine’s banks as athletes are paraded along the river on boats.