F1 fans were not surprised when visuals of empty grandstands emerged after the 2023 F1 Las Vegas GP qualifying session on Friday, November 18.
The qualifying session at the Las Vegas track took place at midnight on Friday with Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc taking pole position ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz. Red Bull driver Max Verstappen finished the session in P3, however, he will start alongside Leclerc due to Sainz's 10-place grid penalty.
Some fans shared the visuals of empty grandstands during the qualifying session, with only a few fans attending the event.
F1 fans took to social media to give their reactions to the video, with one fan claiming that he wasn't surprised given the timings of the event, saying:
"Maybe if it wasn't midnight,"
Here are some more reactions:
Mercedes F1 driver wasn't "concerned" about his qualifying session
Mercedes driver George Russell stated after the qualifying session that he wasn't overtly "concerned" about his placement on the grid as long he was abe to finish in the top 10.
In his post-quali interview via Autosport, George Russell said:
"Happy with the result. I felt confident around this circuit. We weren't expecting to be this competitive coming into this weekend. But to be honest, as strange as it sounds I wasn't too concerned about where we qualified today, as long as we were in the top 10.
He added:
"Because it is the biggest unknown of the season going into the race tomorrow, we saw huge amounts of graining on all teams. If you can stay within the threshold of not graining a one-stop will be comfortable. But as soon as you start graining the tyres, you have to pit. And I don't think we've done more than 12 laps without graining the tyres. So that's going to be the big challenge."
Russell also claimed that the lack of grip in the initial stages of the race will be a "disaster", adding:
"Because we've got no support series, no nothing. The track's going be a disaster in the first five laps of the race."
Russell will start the race from P3 on Saturday after qualifying P4 in the session. He would hope to get the jump on Verstappen and Leclerc from the line or at least stay close to them in the initial stages to pounce any mistakes made by the duo.