Verstappen strongly criticizes Formula 1: “You look like a clown”

Max Verstappen He has never been a defender of street circuits in F1. And even less from events like Las Vegas GP, more from conventional and traditional, more from pure motorsport, and closer to attracting fans and big profits. Above all, when talking about the new routes included in the calendar of F1 in recent years. And this time, in dealing with F1 Las Vegas GPthe Dutch driver is critical to the spirit of the event and also to the design of the circuit.

“I don’t like everything around racing. “I really want to try to do the best I can, but I’m not looking forward to this (the whole event itself).”said Verstappen in reference to all the previous spectacles at a Grand Prix where the drivers’ agenda was tighter this Thursday because, apart from attending the press and conducting their commercial events, they had to participate in the opening ceremony. of the Grand Prix. “To me, everybody can skip this kind of thing. You just stand there and you look like a clown,” as he assured in statements to the international press.

The Dutchman assured him that he was not “no problem no problem” about the Las Vegas GP, but that “It’s just not my thing.”

“I understand it perfectly and it can be seen in two ways: from the business side or from the sports side. So of course I understand your side. I’m just expressing my opinion on the performance aspect”added Max defined this Grand Prix as follows: “It’s 99% show, 1% sporting event.”

Criticisms of the Las Vegas layout design

The layout has a rather unique shape, with a large straight line of about 2 kilometers passing through the main street of the Strip, in front of the most important casinos and hotels. It has 17 curves, some are closed, but many of them are straight. For this reason, the three-time F1 world champion and current dominator of the ‘Great Circus’, says that he is not too enthusiastic about the sensations he will feel inside the car on a track where there are many doubts: the strict grip is expected to be very low, The track should be very cold at night and the cars can slide, and in addition, the drivers need to be aware of the bumps on the track as soon as they go out for Free Practice 1 at an asphalt to be open to traffic during the day.

“To be honest, there aren’t many curves. It will probably also depend a bit on the grip one has. But it looks like there won’t be a firm grip…”commented Verstappen in statements published by the ‘RaceFans’ portal.

“I don’t think it’s that exciting, that’s the only thing… but I think naturally for me a street circuit is not very exciting, especially with these new cars. It’s too heavy. Especially when your grip is small, that’s No Of course, the scenery will be spectacular when driving down the Strip, but the layout of the circuit itself is not the most interesting.. “An F1 car is more fun with lots of high-speed corners and here there aren’t too many high-speed corners.”commented on this matter, remembering that there are many circuits in the current calendar from which to draw inspiration to create new routes that ensure spectacle and great sensations for the driver.

“Austin is amazing: in the race and qualifying. Suzuka is amazing, in the race, but also in qualifying. Spa is amazing in a lap and in the race. So there are enough tracks where it can excel in both senses.”argument.

Simulator sessions and big doubts

Max Verstappen also emphasized the biggest doubt where they arrived on this route compared to the known circuits, because in the simulator the work carried out is based on the study of the track, because the acquisition of specific data on the set-up is very complicated because they didn’t get it. find out the actual grip of the track and the position of the bumps on the asphalt.

“There aren’t many corners, but it’s to get into the rhythm a little bit and understand a little bit about all the possible scenarios that can happen, in terms of setup and balance. I think the most important thing is to track study . We tried a few things in terms of car set-up, but when you don’t really know what bumps are going to happen and the grip, you can’t go into detail to compare it to other tracks where you more or less know what kind of grip you’re going to have. And even there, it’s still difficult to determine the configuration of the car,” he argued in statements published by ‘RaceFans’.

“You prepare for certain types of situations, like having high grip, low grip, medium grip and once you’re on the track, you can see better what the grip feels like and what you need to change to car.”revealed.

“I don’t think anyone really knows where it is,” he commented on the performance when asked if, like in Singapore (the only race where a Red Bull didn’t win), he could be surprised by a Ferrari or another rival. . “I think it’s important that we just go out there, feel the conditions, feel the grip and then try to adapt and see what happens,” ended the matter.