Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes Formula 1 driver, brushed off criticism on the sport’s return to Las Vegas. He claims provided “better” race thrill “than most tracks we go to”. But traditional F1 fanbase is skeptical of F1’s return to the world gambling haven to attract VIPs.
The venue had unexpected surprises for the teams, where FP1 on Thursday had to called off after nine minutes. Later, FP2 started after 2.5 hours of initial schedule. These issues raised the speculations among its fanbase that F1 has prioritize commercial consideration over the sport.
However, during the race Las Vegas streets provided spectacular show for the audience. The low-grip conditions pushed drivers off their limits and long straights put great show from start to finish.
Max Verstappen, the F1 world champion, won the race following a long fight with Charles Leclerc. The former complained about the race as the venue had cards up his sleeve. However, Hamilton defended the whole race and its venue.
“The race was great. It was one of the best races,” he said.
“So many people, all the media, everyone has been so negative about this race and about the show and all that, I was [like] just let it be and let’s see how it goes. Great race! This is like Baku, but better.
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Hamilton believes F1 did a splendid job providing a great balance between sport and entertainment. He said: “I haven’t seen any entertainment so I don’t really know. I have not been watching that side of things.
“But as I said, there’s just been a lot of negativity about having three grands prix in the States and people talking about bringing back old classic races from Europe.
“But this has provided a better race than most of the tracks we go to. So, hats off to the people that run the show and can’t wait to come back and hopefully have a better race here next year.”
Hamilton had little incident with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri on Lap 16. It forced both drivers for extra pit stop for fresher tyres.
When asked how much higher up he could have finished than seventh, he said: “I have no idea what would be possible, but I’m grateful to get a couple of points at least. But it would have been a podium, for sure.”
