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Max Verstappen did not hold back his words when it came to talking about the 2023 F1 Las Vegas GP. During his very first interaction with the media, the driver criticized the event.
Verstappen admitted that he felt like a clown standing on the stage for the people. He talked about how if he had his way, he would just turn up for the racing bits and even claimed that all of this is 99% show and one percent sport.
The F1 Las Vegas GP has been heavily criticized from several corners. The locals have made their disdain public. The track layout itself has raised a few question marks. Verstappen adding his voice to it certainly does not help the situation for F1.
Having said that, Max Verstappen's criticism of the 2023 F1 Las Vegas GP has a good side and a bad one. Let's take a look.
Max Verstappen's criticism of the 2023 F1 Las Vegas GP
The good side
Many a time, F1 drivers have been termed PR robots. Most of the lines have already been properly curated by their marketing team to avoid offending anyone.
More importantly, when it comes to an event at a prized location for the sport, something like this gains extra traction. Drivers are almost expected to only speak of the positives to not let the detractors gain any level of traction.
This has certainly not happened with Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver spoke his mind. It does show that the drivers in the sport still have a voice, where they do not have to always align with the sponsors or other diplomatic aspects of F1.
For a sport like Formula 1 to thrive in an environment like the United States, difference of opinion is not a bad thing. With Max Verstappen airing his views in the manner that he did, he may have inspired more drivers on the grid to come forward and share more thoughts on all developments.
The bad side
The bad side has to be associated with the 2023 F1 Las Vegas GP. To be fair, this is not just a race weekend in any which way. It is an entire extravaganza where there is one major event after the other. For a sport that has grown out of Europe, it's core audience might feel unfamiliar with the level of excess in the entire state of affairs.
There weren't that many positive sentiments attached to the much maligned driver introductions in Miami early in the season. In all fairness, the show aspect of the 2023 F1 Las Vegas GP hasn't won over many fans and if a driver of Max Verstappen's stature comes up and criticizes the event, it certainly adds to the negative impact.
The race in Las Vegas has been organised by F1 itself but the track layout has not had race reviews. In fact, the pitlane exit is already one of the more contentious issues that's going to be a hot topic once the running begins.
To add to this, the locals have sounded off their disapproval for the race weekend already.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, one will be happy that F1 has not muffled the voice of its drivers. Max Verstappen can openly claim that he doesn't like the side show that comes with racing in the United States. At the same time, the Red Bull driver needs to be applauded for speaking his mind freely.
Max Verstappen's comments are not ideal but it certainly does have legitimate basis, which will need to be addressed eventually.
