Christian Horner rude gesture leads to Sky Sports apology at Las Vegas GP

Highlights F1 commentator David Croft had to apologise after Red Bull team principal Christian Horner showed his middle finger to reporter Ted Kravitz during light-hearted banter.
Elsewhere, Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz hit a manhole cover, causing a 10-minute session abandonment and a 10-place grid penalty.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff also dismissed the incident as insignificant and asserted that it will not reflect badly on F1.
F1 commentator David Croft was forced to apologise to the viewers watching at home yesterday after former racing driver and current team principal of the Red Bull Formula One team Christian Horner was broadcast showing his middle finger to reporter Ted Kravitz. This came as a product of a light-hearted exchange between the two, as the pair occupied themselves with some on-air banter while the cars were on track.
“I think he’s wearing his natty new glasses on the pit wall… and who can blame him?” Kravitz said before making a joke. Continuing to poke fun at Horner when in the pit lane, Kravitz said: “Who, approaching 50 years old, would wear their glasses in the pit lane, wanting to pretend that they actually don’t need them? Who would do that?”
Ted then continued to antagonise Horner, commenting: “Christian, where are the glasses? Put the glasses back on!” Sky colleague Karun Chandhok then signalled that Horner had turned around without his glasses on, to which he responded with perhaps one of the worst disguised middle finger gestures while simultaneously holding back a smile.
“Oh, he’s giving me a happy little greeting there. Honestly, every time I keep putting a compliment Christian’s way, he doesn’t like it. He’s 50, and I’m approaching 50, and we both need the glasses now. And the glasses are on,” Kravitz jokingly commented.
Realising this, Croft then took the time to apologise to the Sky audience at home. “He did put the glasses on eventually; thank you, Christian. And apologies if you were offended by the hand signals that were going on from the Red Bull pit wall,” he explained.
Las Vegas Grand Prix started horrendously
Beginning the action for the weekend, the event quickly unfolded into a bit of a disaster, as Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz hit a manhole cover, which left the session abandoned after only 10 minutes. Further adding to the disappointment for Sainz, he was then handed a 10-place grid penalty as Ferrari had to make amendments to his car.
The driver admitted he was in “disbelief” over the decision to be penalised. “The team communicated to me that I was taking a 10-place grid penalty for something that I have no fault, and the team have no fault,” said Sainz. “That changed completely my mindset and my opinion on the weekend and how it’s going to go from now on. I’m disappointed and in disbelief with the situation. You will not see me very happy this weekend.”
Read more: CCTV footage shows moment Carlos Sainz drove over drain cover at Las Vegas GP
Furthermore, these delays forced fans to be sent home early before any meaningful running could be done, as the practice was all but done behind closed doors. Not a great fan-going experience, especially when you’ve paid mega money to be there!
However, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was not having it with any suggestions of this situation reflecting badly on F1, assertively proclaiming after: “That is not a ‘black eye’ – this is nothing. 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.”