Rindi Putra
Max Verstappen didn't seem too impressed with the format of the opening ceremony for the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix race. He complained that the drivers there looked like clowns. "We stood there like clowns."
Liberti Media, as the owner of the Formula 1 broadcasting rights, looks very serious about enlivening the F1 racing event in Las Vegas. It can be seen from the many events held to attract automotive fans, especially car racing in the United States.
One way is to hold a grand opening ceremony one day before free practice begins. Apart from being filled with world-class musicians, this event also serves as an introduction for the drivers to the audience at the circuit and at home via broadcasts on YouTube.
Even though drivers' opinions differ, it seems that Max Verstappen is in the group of drivers who don't really like the grand concept of the race opening ceremony in Las Vegas, Nevada. United States of America.
"It's not about the artists (who perform), we (drivers) are just standing up there, looking like a clown." - Max Verstappen
Verstappen's comments are understandable because at this event the drivers were only asked to stand and wave during the introduction. The rest of the event was filled with performances from musicians such as John Legend, Steve Aoki, Kylie Minogue, and other musicians.
Max also understands the business side
Even so, Max Verstappen can also understand that on the other hand, this is very good for Formula 1 to increase audience interest in the United States. However, many media or social media accounts only quote the part at the beginning. So Verstappen seemed to really dislike and strongly reject the concept of opening in Vegas, even though it wasn't.
In the interview, Max added that he also understood that it was very good from a business perspective, but Max only wanted to focus on having an opinion from a competition (racing) perspective. Reporting from The Race:
“I fully understand and you can look at it two ways - business side or sport side,”
“So, of course, I understand their side of it.
“I'm just voicing my opinion on the performance side of things.” - Max Verstappen
Charles Leclerc: "There is room to do both shows and sports"
Meanwhile, the driver from the Scuderia Ferrari team, Charles Leclerc, has a more neutral opinion than Max Verstappen.
Leclerc believes that both aspects (shows and sports) can work together. The driver from Monaco also added that he was happy with the current concept. But he thought that this was only suitable for Las Vegas.
“I think there is room to do both shows and sports. I hope we can do that this weekend.”
“I understand it and I'm happy that it's that way. I don't think every race should be like that but when you're in Vegas, if you don't do that here you don't do that anywhere." -Charles Leclerc
Indycar must be careful
From the driver's perspective, it's understandable, maybe they also have too many other marketing schedules to do so the time to prepare for the race is decreasing.
But from the perspective of the audience or fans, I think this is really cool, truly world-class. Starting from the property, concept, and musicians invited, everything is quality (although there are some I've just heard of 😂).
In my opinion, this opening ceremony is also better than the opening ceremony of the Indy 500, where the race is included in the legendary Triple Crown race. Indycar management should have been alert if they had seen the F1 opening ceremony in Las Vegas.
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