Max Verstappen was not a fan of the late timings of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver also took out his anger on the mismanagement of the Grand Prix and how it resulted in the poor treatment of the drivers.
Speaking about this, Verstappen said in the recent Chequered Flag podcast episode, “I do think of course timing wise it would be better to drive a bit earlier because I really felt like a lot of drivers got ill after that race.”
“Traveling also to Abu Dhabi, it’s quite far, timezone shifts, your body really doesn’t know where you are at in the world, and especially so late in the season I think everyone was running a bit, in fumes I think.”, explained Verstappen.
The Las Vegas GP race started at 10 PM local time, and this was quite behind the usual time for a race start. As the conclusion of a race takes around two hours to finish and then there are celebrations and post-race briefing, it took the event to get over around 1 AM at midnight.
This delay became the cause of fatigue for drivers who were already tired after traveling to 20 different destinations throughout the season. The Las Vegas GP did not help any better. Even George Russell of Mercedes, who fell ill after leaving the venue shared his thoughts on this and said he saw “so many mechanics” fell ill.
Max Verstappen criticized Las Vegas GP right from the start
While Max Verstappen shared his criticism about the timing of the Las Vegas GP recently, he was not particularly happy about the entire race right from the start. The Red Bull driver was quite vocal about how the entire event was more about the show than about sport.
On this, he said during the event as per Reuters, “I think it is 99% show, 1% sport.” This particularly came after the Dutchman did not like showboating of the Drivers’ introduction in the United States.
max verstappen: *hating on las vegas grand prix the whole weekend long*
ALSO max verstappen: pic.twitter.com/N4XpyPg8G4
— andy (@iiiuminateandy) November 19, 2023
Following this, he also focused on how the Grand Prix race in Sin City enabled the fans to see their favorite artists, have drinks, and enjoy with their “mates.” Therefore, it lacks the racing emotion and passion that usually is present around Spa or Monza.
Nevertheless, Max Verstappen had a change of heart following his emphatic win in Nevada. He also revealed in the podcast that he enjoyed racing in the Sin City which involved lots of fighting and action on track.
