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Max Verstappen is unimpressed with the circuit layout of the 2023 Las Vegas GP. Speaking to media, including Sportskeeda, ahead of the race, the Red Bull's champion driver was dismissive of some characteristics of the street circuit in Nevada.
Having expressed his opinions of the race both in Austin and Mexico, Verstappen seems to have a genuine dislike for street circuits. He has often reiterated the lack of suitability of the modern F1 cars to the narrow track layouts.
The narrow width of the track area is one of the key characteristics that has limited racing or overtaking at street circuits.
Asked by Sportskeeda what the biggest limitations and concerns of the Las Vegas circuit were, Max Verstappen replied:
"I don’t think it's that exciting, that's the only thing. But I think naturally already for me, street circuits are not very exciting, especially with these new cars are too heavy. Especially also when you have low grip, that doesn’t help.
"Obviously the scenery will look great driving through the strip but the layout itself is not the most exciting. I think in an F1 car, it’s a lot of fun with high speed corners so yeah, around here there are not many high speed corners.”
Asked about his personal preference among circuits, he replied:
“Austin is fantastic in the race qualifier, Suzuka is fantastic in the race but also in qualifier. Spa is fantastic over one lap and in the race. So there are enough tracks where it can be great.”
Summarising his thoughts on the track in short, Verstappen added:
“Yeah, not very interesting.”
Often vocal on all matters trackside and performance related, Max Verstappen has been openly vocal about his dislike for street circuits or even sprint formats.
The triple world champion believes that the limitations of the Las Vegas circuit are lack of high speed corners. He felt this quality, along with low grip, made it uninteresting.
With temperatures expected to be the coldest on the calendar, the street layout through sin city is expected to be a tricky challenge for both teams and F1’s tyre supplier Pirelli.
Uninterested with the layout, Max Verstappen was dismissive of the quality of racing the desert venue was likely to produce over the weekend.
He felt that modern F1 cars tend to be heavier and wider which did not make street venues the most ideal ones to witness good racing. While he did feel the Strip would add a good backdrop to the track, the 26-year-old felt there are many other venues which are both good for qualifying and the main race.
Max Verstappen believes the Las Vegas GP is difficult to predict and has many unknowns
Despite taking a virtual tour of the circuit on the simulator, Verstappen feels areas such as track surface, grip, and setups are an unknown quantity for the Las Vegas GP.
The Dutchman felt that the weekend could be tricky for both their team and rivals to predict. With cooler track and ambient temperatures, the grip levels remain a serious concern for most teams.
He believes that despite simulating the circuit, there weren’t too many learnings beyond understanding the layout of the track.
“I think what was most important was just to learn the track to be honest. We tried some things in terms of set-up but when you don’t really know how bumpy it’s going to be, how grippy it’s going to be, then you can’t really go into detail to compare to some other tracks where you more or less know what kind of grip you’re going to get, and even there, it’s still hard to nail the set-up.
"So, it’s really a bit of guesswork that went into it, but also you prepare yourself for different kinds of scenarios like higher grip, lower grip, medium grip and once you go on track you see a little bit more how it feels like and what you need to change as well.”
Asked if it would be a tricky circuit for Red Bull given the tyre temperatures and low grip, he explained:
“It might be, but honestly, it can also be very good, I don’t know. At the moment, I think no one really knows where you’re at. I think it’s important that we go out there, feel the conditions, feel the grip, and then just try to settle in and see what happens.”
On whether the race was more of a lottery, Max Verstappen said:
“Already when it’s the first race with no information, I think naturally that will always be a bit more difficult for everyone, but then it also depends what is going to happen throughout the race with the cars.”
One of Red Bull’s weaknesses is low grip conditions which Max Verstappen felt is hard to anticipate at a new circuit. The Dutchman believes the race could be a bit of a lottery in terms of predictions not just for himself but for everyone.
While the street circuit features a lot of straights, whether the reigning champion and Red Bull are vulnerable or the unknowns could create opportunities for their rivals remains to be seen. With a lot of hype surrounding the event, the Las Vegas GP has become the most anticipated sporting event in the world.
