Lewis Hamilton previews Las Vegas Grand Prix
Fernando Alonso insists a “little bit extra show” at the Las Vegas Grand Prix is fine as long as Formula One drivers’ schedules are reduced elsewhere. Sin City welcomed teams with a glitzy opening ceremony involving A-list celebrities, but Max Verstappen expressed his frustrations over the glamour.
Verstappen brutally observed that he was left to “look like a clown” as the drivers were introduced to a light show. In an expensive production, Kylie Minogue and Will.i.Am were among the performers.
“For me, you can skip this,” a typically blunt Verstappen said afterwards. “We are just standing up there, looking like a clown. I mean, yeah…”
He added: “I’m also not going to fake it, I just always voice my opinion on positive things and negative things. That’s just how I am. Some people like the show a bit more, I don’t like it at all.”
Aston Martin’s Alonso insists Las Vegas deserves slightly different treatment due to the enormous funds that have gone into hosting its first Grand Prix since 1982. But the Spaniard feels that it should be balanced out by reducing the number of other events on the F1 calendar.
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“I have to say that places like this one and with the investment that has been done on the place that we are racing, it deserves a little bit different treatment and a little bit extra show of what we did today or what the weekend is going to be,” Alonso told Sky Sports.
“I’m okay to do an extra for these type of events, but maybe it could be balanced somehow and reduced maybe our schedule somewhere else.”
It is a view that is widely held on the grid. Charles Leclerc points out that there is room for star-studded shows alongside the racing.
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“I think there is room to do both [show and sport]. I hope we can do that this weekend,” Leclerc said.
“Of course, there has been a lot of show already with [the] opening ceremony. But we must not forget that it’s a beautiful sport but you must also attract new people to this beautiful sport.”
The Ferrari star added: “I understand it and I’m happy that it’s that way. I don’t think every race should be like that but when you are in Vegas, (if) you don’t do that here you don’t do that anywhere.”
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