MAX VERSTAPPEN blasted the Las Vegas Grand Prix — saying it is more like the National League than Champions League.
Red Bull’s three-time world champion is proving a problem for Formula One bosses on the same scale as the loose drain covers, tumbling share price or angry fans demanding refunds.
He refuses to dance to F1’s drumbeat, undermining their attempts to polish this turd of a grand prix.
Verstappen has never been afraid to speak his mind but now he carries much more sway.
And when asked about a street track that is more about landmarks than overtaking, the Dutchman was brutally honest.
He said: “I think Monaco is the Champions League . . . this is more like the National League.”
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Verstappen, 26, came into this weekend labelling the event “99 per cent entertainment and one per cent race”.
He was one of a handful of drivers to refuse F1’s request to attend a party in the Wynn hotel in the early hours of Thursday, while others toed the party line.
Verstappen added: “When I was a kid it was about the emotion of the sport, that’s what I fell in love with and not the show around it.
“A racing car on a street circuit doesn’t really come alive. It’s not that exciting.
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“It’s more about proper race tracks — Spa, Monza, these kinds of places. They have a lot of emotion and passion.
“I understand the fans may need something to do around the track but it’s more important you make them understand what we do as a sport.
“Most of them just come to have a party, drink, see a DJ play or a performance act.
“I can do that all over the world, I can go to Ibiza and get completely s**t-faced and have a good time.
“People come and they become a fan of what? They want to see their favourite artist and go out and have a crazy night.
“But they don’t actually understand what we are doing and what we are putting on the line to perform.
“I love Vegas, but not to drive an F1 car. I love to go out, have a few drinks, throw everything on red, to be a bit crazy and have nice food.
“But like I said, emotion, passion, it’s not there.”
The Dutchman’s rant may draw comparisons to Manchester United icon Roy Keane.
The football hardman made similar claims to Verstappen’s about some of the Old Trafford crowd’s lack of knowledge of football back in 2000.
Then, he said fans were too busy eating prawn sandwiches rather than creating an atmosphere at Old Trafford during a Champions League group stage tie against Dynamo Kyiv.
Keane commented: “Away from home our fans are fantastic, I’d call them the hardcore fans.
“But at home they have a few drinks and probably the prawn sandwiches, and they don’t realise what’s going on out on the pitch.
“I don’t think some of the people who come to Old Trafford can spell ‘football’, never mind understand it.”
F1 tried to appease disgruntled fans with a derisory $200 voucher for merchandise, but no refund.
Some way to commemorate their EIGHT MINUTES of action in Friday’s first practice before it was red flagged and they were later turfed out.
While Verstappen was shooting down F1’s very own Fyre Fest, Carlos Sainz — whose Ferrari was wrecked by the loose drain cover in Friday practice — was taking pop-shots at the way the sport is governed.
FIA stewards had to punish him for taking a new engine because it is in the rules.
But the subtext is Mercedes were rumoured to be lining up a protest had they spared him a ten-place grid penalty, which could impact the battle for second in the constructors’ championship.
Sainz fumed: “My mechanics have to invest five hours putting together a new car and, on top of that, we get a ten-place grid penalty for something that we have nothing to do with.
“I’m disappointed. At the same time, not surprised, because there have been many cases this year that I think this sport has proven that it can do things a lot better.
“I’m surprised that the governing body doesn’t have the power to, in cases of force majeure, overrule this kind of situation where it’s so clear something is completely out of the team’s and driver’s control.
“But for some reason there will be rival teams pushing for me to get a penalty, which surprises me in a way.
“There’s too much money involved for a team not to threaten to apply for a penalty for me.
“I am very upset with the whole situation, with the sport. I’m in a bad mood because I expected more.”
Complete F1 2023 race calendar – details on every Grand Prix this year
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
