Verstappen again critical: 'You can party and drink all over the world'

After a much-discussed first day, which continued until 04:00 local time due to problems with the Las Vegas Street Circuit, qualifying day went off without a hitch. Max Verstappen has been critical of the Formula 1 race in the gambling city on several occasions and is not holding back even after qualifying.

"I can go on for a long time, but I feel like 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 I think as a real racer, that shouldn't really matter. A Formula One car, anyway, on the street circuit, I think doesn't really come alive. It's not that exciting," Verstappen explained.

Verstappen likes historical circuits like Spa-Francorchamps and Monza much more because of the emotion and passion involved, including from the fans present. "When I jump in the car there I'm fired up and I love driving around this kind of places. Of course, I understand that fans need maybe something to do around the track but I think it's more important that you actually make them understand what we do as a sport," he continued.

'You can party and drink anywhere'

Indeed, partying, drinking, DJ shows and other performances can be done all over the world, the Red Bull Racing driver stresses. "I can do that all over the world, I can go to Ibiza and get completely s***-faced and have a good time but that's what happens," says Verstappen, who does not believe that visitors become fans of the sport because of this set-up.

"I think if you would actually invest more time into the actual sport, what we're actually trying to achieve here. As little kids, we grew up wanting to be a world champion, I think the sport would put more focus on these kinds of things and also explain more about what a team is doing throughout the season, what they are achieving, what they are working for," Verstappen said.