Max Verstappen ‘looked silly’ with Red Bull F1 driver’s ‘odd’ outburst

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Jolyon Palmer now feels Max Verstappen made himself look ‘silly’ when the Red Bull driver got ‘carried away’ with his odd criticism of the Las Vegas GP ahead of the race.

The United States of America played host to Formula 1 three times during 2023 with races in Miami, Austin and Nevada. But unlike any race in F1 history, the series’ owner, Liberty Media, took over promoting its return to Sin City for the first time since the 1982 Caesars Palace GP.

Liberty Media also had real desires to make the Las Vegas GP a showpiece event rather than another race on the F1 calendar. It even paid $240m (£189m) to buy land east of the Strip to create a vast permanent pit building, garages, team areas, hospitality and part of the circuit.

Max Verstappen called the Las Vegas GP ‘99% show and 1% sporting event’

But Liberty Media rubbed Verstappen the wrong way with its pre-event activities for the Las Vegas GP in November. The Red Bull driver called it ‘99% show and 1% sporting event’ after a launch party featuring a laser show plus performances by Kylie Minogue and John Legend.

Verstappen also had ‘zero interest’ in attending a pre-race party planned by F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali. And his first chance to drive the Las Vegas Strip Circuit did not improve the 26-year-old’s mood. Verstappen bluntly said ‘no’ when asked if he enjoyed the track after FP2.

His mood would improve when Verstappen won the Las Vegas GP, however, as he sang Viva Las Vegas on Red Bull’s radio. He also agreed to join teammate Sergio Perez in wearing Elvis Presley-inspired overalls for the race. Both of which seemed hypocritical given his criticisms.

Jolyon Palmer now feels the Red Bull driver ‘looked silly’ after his criticism

Verstappen has since noted that his criticism of the show surrounding the Las Vegas GP was him ‘speaking your mind’. But Palmer now feels the 26-year-old made himself look ‘silly’ as the Las Vegas GP would be the former Renault F1 driver’s favourite race of the 2023 season.

“Personally, I think he got a bit carried away with Vegas,” Palmer told the BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast. “I think he made a point and then dug his heels in so aggressively into that point that he ended up looking a little silly when the race was, in my opinion, the best race of the season at an iconic new venue.

“There are races where I can see his point on that. We go to some tracks that, you know, are not necessarily the pick of the calendar if you could put your ideal calendar together. I think that was an odd hill to die on.”

The cold temperatures from F1 scheduling the Las Vegas GP as a night race helped to create a chaotic start. Drivers scrambled for grip and several collided, including Carlos Sainz whilst he recovered from a water valve cover damaging his Ferrari during the first minutes of FP1.

Two full safety car periods also helped to produce action throughout the race, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc making a last-lap pass on Perez for P2. But Verstappen will have left Vegas feeling his pre-event criticisms were still valid as F1 sought to keep the race in the headlines.