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.

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.