Verstappen criticized the opening ceremony of the Las Vegas Grand Prix! I felt like a clown, says reigning champion

Formula 1 is about to hold its penultimate race of the season, the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Thursday’s opening ceremony was a testament to the uniqueness of the event. Max Verstappen, however, was not thrilled with the opening of the grand prix. The reigning champion reportedly felt like a clown.

We knew that the Las Vegas Grand Prix was going to be one huge show the moment it returned to the F1 calendar after many years.

And not only did it confirm that, but apparently even surpassed the opening ceremony on Thursday. That’s when the pilots complete their media duties. So Formula 1 has also included the official opening ceremony on that day.

And of course, there are already differing opinions about that. For some die-hard F1 fans, it is simply something extra, perhaps unnecessary.

But the fact remains that from a marketing perspective, it’s a huge coup for the queen of motorsport, which will once again win her more fans and attention around the world.

Before the aforementioned media duties, all 20 drivers made their way to the grid for the pre-race ceremony, where they were hoisted onto platforms to greet the fans. You can see the whole giant show in the attached video below.

I felt like a clown, admits Verstappen

The opening ceremony, however, was not to Verstappen’s liking. He’s already made it clear how he feels about the Las Vegas Grand Prix. According to him, it is 99 percent a big show and only 1 percent a sporting event.

This is evidenced by the special colouring of most of the teams on the F1 grid, which adds to the uniqueness of the event. In any case, Verstappen said he felt like a clown.

“To be honest, I don’t have much emotion about it. I just want to focus on the performance side of things, I don’t like all the stuff around it. I know they are part of the whole, but it’s not in my interest,” Verstappen told media, including Racing News 365.

“The circuit is not very interesting. Whether I like it or not is not up to me, but I’m not going to pretend. Some people like the series a bit more because of it, I don’t like it at all,” he admits frankly.

“I love being in Vegas, but it’s not because of the racing. I would skip that kind of stuff. It’s just about standing there and looking like a clown,” he added when asked how he enjoyed the opening ceremony.

Source: F1, Racing News 365, Twitter/X