Toto Wolff responded in explicit fashion to Martin Brundle's suggestion that the cancellation of the Las Vegas Grand Prix first practice session was a "black eye" on Formula One.

The F1 commentator was disappointed by the cancellation of the weekend's first session which occurred after two drivers drove over a loose manhole cover, damaging their vehicles. Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz first drove over the manhole cover which damaged his car as moments later Esteban Ocon's Alpine did the same which caused the session to be cut short.

The second session was then heavily delayed as officials worked to fix that section of the track as well as checking no other issues flared up ahead of the sport's first Grand Prix in Las Vegas since 1982.

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Brundle suggested the incident is a "black eye" to the sport, a phrase that was used by a journalist during the team principals' press conference which caused the Mercedes boss to spin off into a furious rant aimed at the Sky Sports personality.

"That is not a 'black eye' – this is nothing," the Austrian exclaimed. "We are [on] Thursday night, we have a free practice session one that we're not doing. They're going to seal the drain covers and nobody's going to talk about that tomorrow morning anymore."

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That was only the beginning of the 51-year-old's rant which soon excluded expletives. "It's FP1 – how can you even dare trying to talk bad about an event that sets new standards to everything? You're speaking about a f***ing drain cover that's been undone, that has happened before. That's nothing – it's FP1," he said as his rage continued to rise.

"Give credit to the people that have set up this grand prix, that have made this sport much bigger than it ever was. Liberty has done an awesome job and just because in FP1 a drain cover has become undone, we shouldn't be moaning. The car is broken – that's really a shame. For Carlos [Sainz], it could have been dangerous."

Wolff's Mercedes currently sit second in the Constructers' Championship while seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton is third in the Drivers' Standings with team-mate George Russell in eighth in yet another season dominated by Red Bull and Max Verstappen who won his third consecutive title last month.

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