"Monaco is like Champions League, this is national league": Max Verstappen's savage dismissal of F1 Las Vegas GP track layout

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen hasn't been overly impressed with the Las Vegas GP layout and has been outspoken about his views.

The three-time world champion has criticized the event massively since landing in Nevada, claiming that the race was "99% show and 1% sport." He said that he wasn't a fan of how the sport handled the chaos on the opening night of the event and also had some harsh words for the track layout.

In his post-quali press conference, Max Verstappen stated his displeasure with the track layout and compared it to the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. He said:

"I think Monaco is like the Champions League, this is the national league."

When asked about his views about the weekend up until the qualifying, the Red Bull driver added:

"I feel like… of course, a kind of show element is important but I like emotion and for me, when I was a little kid, it was about the emotion of the sport, what I fell in love with, and not the show of the sport around it because, as a real racer, that shouldn't really matter."

He added:

"I mean, a car, first of all, a racing car, a Formula 1 anyway, on a street circuit, I think doesn't really come alive. It's not that exciting. I think it's more about just the proper racetracks. When you go to Spa, Monza, these kinds of places, they have a lot of emotion and passion."

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Max Verstappen claimed that he had "fun" in Las Vegas after notching his 18th race win of 2023

Max Verstappen once again displayed his outstanding racecraft after he found himself in P5 in the final phase of the race to come back and take his 18th win of the season at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

In his post-race interview, the Dutch driver pointed out that he had a lot of fun in the race, saying:

“It was a it was a lot of fun there. With the DRS, that helped a lot for very good racing air. Also, I think the low degradation with the tarmac here, you could really push on the tyres, which I think was good."

He added:

"It was a lot of fun out there. I hope everyone enjoyed it a bit. We definitely did. So already excited to come back here next year and hopefully try to do something similar.”