Verstappen Chimes In On Las Vegas Controversy: 'I Would Tear Down Whole Place'

Sunday, 19 November 2023 at 00:00

Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen reacted to a recent controversy concerning the fans who were ejected from grandstands ahead of the Free Practice Session Two.

It all started with the Free Practice session one being canceled after Carlos Sainz's incident. The Ferrari driver went over a loose manhole cover and completely damaged his car.

Event organizers quickly realized the same issue might happen again, and all manhole covers on the track had to be ceiled. As a consequence, FP1 was canceled, and FP2 was postponed.

Because of "logistical reasons," all fan areas around the track were closed during the FP2. So the fans who paid large sums of money to attend FP1 and FP2 saw only nine minutes of on-track action in FP1 and then had to leave.

While there was no apology or refund from the promoter, F1 fans who paid for the tickets on Thursday received $200 vouchers to the official F1 shop. According to BBC, Verstappen reacted to the situation when talking to the Dutch media.

"Then they still make money! Great. If I was a fan, I would tear down the whole place. This can't be right."

Read also

Sergio Perez 'Very Sorry For The Fans' Ejected From The Las Vegas Strip Circuit

The Dutchman also criticized organizers for the "loose manhole cover" issue, saying it does not take too much intelligence to predict such problems would occur.

"Listen, if you look at those manhole covers and how that's put together, you just have to know that it would naturally come up when an F1 car drives over it. You really don't have to have a high IQ to know that."

The same problem occurred in the past on different street circuits like Azerbaijan so it would be expected from F1 to learn from those instances. Verstappen said:

"Well, it shouldn't happen, but of course, it has happened a few times in recent years. But if you know that at some point, you have to pay attention to it, and especially at a new event."

The Las Vegas Grand Prix had been under a lot of fire before it even began and these mistakes did not help the event to improve its reputation. The Red Bull driver concluded:

"You know, everybody is watching you, then you just naturally have to be on top of that. It just sucks. It shouldn't happen. But, you have to learn from that, and you have to be able to take criticism."