Max Verstappen slams the Las Vegas Grand Prix
Max Verstappen didn't hold back, as usual, during the press conference when discussing the opening ceremony of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. He clearly expressed his thoughts on all the glitz and glamour.
“« 99% of show and 1% of sports event », that’s the scathing assessment Max Verstappen makes of the opening ceremony of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.”
The triple world champion, who also chose to miss a later VIP event at the Wynn’s resort, which F1 boss Stefano Domenicali had asked all drivers to attend, clearly indicated that he did not appreciate the Las Vegas experience so far. « It doesn’t give me much excitement to be honest, I just want to focus on the performance side of the GP. […] I don’t like everything that’s happening around, anyway. I know, of course, that in some places, entertainment is part of it, but let’s just say it’s not in my interest. »
« I’m not going to pretend »
However, he still understands Liberty Media’s desire to make the event profitable, in which they have invested nearly half a billion dollars. « Whether I like it or not, it’s not up to me, but I’m not going to pretend. I just expressed my opinion on positive and negative things, and that’s exactly who I am. »
« We can see things in two ways, from the business side or from the sports side, so I do understand their point of view, but I’m just expressing my opinion on the performance aspect of things.
The Dutch also gave a scathing verdict on the pre-race opening ceremony that took place. « For me, you can remove all these kinds of things », before adding about the presentation of the drivers, « it’s just that up there, you look like a clown ».
The Red Bull driver even described the circuit as uninteresting after the recent simulation sessions. There simply aren’t many corners, to be honest. It will also depend on its grip. It doesn’t seem to have much. But we’ll go with the flow.
