“It’s just standing up there, you look like a clown” - Max Verstappen makes his feelings clear about the 2023 F1 Las Vegas GP pre-race events

Red Bull driver and three-time world champion Max Verstappen recently said he was not a fan of the show F1 is putting on for the upcoming Las Vegas Grand Prix this weekend.

The Grand Prix is being touted as the biggest event of the year, and the hype around it is arguably more than any race has seen in the last few years. F1 is leaving no stone unturned to promote the event, as there is a lot riding on this weekend regarding exposure and capital from both the sport and the city.

But while speaking with the media, including Sportskeeda, Verstappen was pretty dismissive of the pre-race events.

“I don’t like all the things around it," he said. "I’m looking forward to trying to do the best I can but I’m not looking forward to this. For me, you can all skip these kinds of things. It’s just standing up there, [you] look like a clown.”

He added:

“I fully understand and you can look at it two ways - business side or sport side. So, of course, I understand their side of it. I’m just voicing my opinion on the performance side of things.”

Max Verstappen gives his take on the Las Vegas GP track

The Red Bull driver earlier stated that he did not find the Las Vegas GP track layout to be very exciting. He feels it lacks the grip needed to extract the most out of the cars.

Speaking with ESPN, Max Verstappen said:

"There's not many corners, to be honest... I don't know. It also will depend a bit probably on how grippy it is. Doesn't look like it has a lot of grip, but we'll go with the flow. I don't think it's that exciting, that's the only thing. I think already for me a street circuit is not that exciting, especially with these new cars, they are just too heavy."

The Dutchman added:

"When you have a low grip that doesn't help. The scenery will look great, driving through the strip, but the layout itself is not the most exciting. Driving an F1 car is a lot more fun with a lot of high-speed corners, but around here there is not many high-speed corners."

It will be fascinating to see if Max Verstappen's opinion changes after taking his RB19 out on the track on Thursday for the free practice session. Some are predicting a difficult weekend for him and the team given the low grip levels.