Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has given a brutal one-word verdict on the Las Vegas Grand Prix circuit after Formula 1 hit the iconic Strip in Nevada for the first time ever.
F1 has returned to Sin City for the first time since 1982 at the first Las Vegas GP. But the first day of on-track action was a disaster as Formula 1 deserted FP1 when Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz hit a manhole cover. The Spaniard will serve a 10-place grid penalty after needing new parts.
Water valve covers around the circuit also needed urgent repairs before the majorly delayed FP2 session started. Formula 1 extended FP2 to a 90-minute session after FP1 lasted for just eight minutes. It meant Verstappen also found the track ‘slippery’ for FP2 as he left the pits.
Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty ImagesWhat has Verstappen said about the Las Vegas Strip Circuit?
The grip levels improved over the 90-minute FP2 session but Verstappen’s impression of the Las Vegas Strip Circuit did not. He gave a brutal one-word verdict on if the circuit around Sin City, including the Strip, was fun to drive. He also learnt nothing new from driving the track.
“No,” Verstappen bluntly told Sky Sports F1 (17/11, 12:17). He added: “I’ve had better tracks in my life. There’s nothing new that I discovered or whatever, you just get on with it.”
FP1 was the first time that a driver drove the Las Vegas Strip Circuit in racing conditions. Las Vegas nor Formula 1 scheduled a support series to race with the main event this week. They also elected against planning a pre-event test with Las Vegas keen to keep the Strip in use.
Only Hamilton has won at more F1 circuits than Verstappen
Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images
Verstappen’s previous knowledge of the Las Vegas Strip Circuit came from driving Red Bull’s simulator ahead of the Grand Prix. But it is clearly not a track that he expects to remember in a positive light going forward. Yet it could be the 25th F1 circuit that Verstappen has won at.
The three-time F1 champion won at a 24th different circuit in his career at the Qatar GP this October. Only Mercedes icon Lewis Hamilton has won at more circuits than Verstappen with 31 in F1. But even Verstappen winning the Las Vegas GP is unlikely to see like the him track.
