Verstappen ‘felt like a clown’ during Las Vegas ceremonies

Max Verstappen’s been vocal for a long time on his views of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. The Formula 1 world champion dislikes the event as he thinks it’s “99% show and only 1% sporting event”.

All the drivers who will participate this weekend took part in the first ever opening ceremony for a race. After the performances of quite famous artists, including Kylie Minogue, Steve Aoki, J Balvin and others, the drivers of the ten teams were introduced to the audience on the start-finish line.

This happened, with all pairs of pilots being raised on special platforms for a few seconds, after which they were hidden again. After the whole ceremony, Verstappen told the media in Vegas that he felt like a “clown” as he was introduced to the public in this way.

“99% show and only 1% sporting event. I don’t have any emotions to be honest, I just want to focus on my performance on the track. I don’t like all this side stuff. I know they are part of the event, but they are not interesting to me.

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“The track isn’t very interesting either. I just want to give my best, which won’t be a problem, the rest doesn’t concern me that much. I won’t pretend I like it. I always speak my mind, whether it’s positive or negative, it’s just who I am. Some people like the show better, but I don’t. I grew up watching only the racing side of things and my current viewings are the same. I like being in Vegas, but not so much because of the competition,” the world champion told the media earlier.

“For me, in the future, we can skip these things. We just sat on the sidelines and did nothing. I felt like a clown,” added the Dutchman.