Max Verstappen called on Formula 1 venue managers to “double” check that there are no objects on or around the track on Friday.
He spoke after a drain cover interrupted testing for the second day in a row.
The lid flew off when Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez rolled onto a track ledge.
This stopped the morning session after just half an hour, for repairs and an inspection of the area.
In November, Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari was heavily damaged by a water valve cover during practice for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Verstappen said the problem could be made worse by ground effect aerodynamics introduced in 2022 (the ground being shaped to generate grip against the track surface).
“I find it necessary that we check that everything is solid for the circuits to come, so as not to experience another situation where a car is destroyed,” declared the reigning F1 champion.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc hit a drain cover on Thursday.
The lid shattered; debris scattered and the team had to inspect the car.
“It’s serious, it can have serious consequences,” confided Leclerc. We must act so that this no longer happens. We were very lucky but in Vegas it was pretty serious for Carlos. »
The first race of the season will take place on March 2 in Bahrain.