Rosberg disagrees with Verstappen: 'Great success for the sport'

Before the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend, Max Verstappen had quite a few criticisms of the track and the show surrounding the racing. The Red Bull driver did pull back somewhat afterwards, but his stance remained. Former Formula One world champion Nico Rosberg thinks the weekend in Nevada was a great success.

"It was a three-way fight, and between Ferrari and Red Bull and then at the back also, so much was going on," Rosberg told DailyMail.com. "The track was great for overtaking, high speed. It had everything so that even the drivers, even the most outspoken critic like [Max] Verstappen, became a super fan of the Las Vegas Grand Prix by the end of it," the German said.

Before the race in the world's gambling city, Verstappen called himself a clown as he had to attend all sorts of activities and festivities. Much was made of the Las Vegas GP due, among other things, to the incident with the loose manhole cover in the first free practice, which resulted in Carlos Sainz receiving a 10-place grid penalty. Still, according to Rosberg, the event was successful.

"I think it was another great success for the sport," he says. "Interesting business case, also for the sport, because it's the first time that they actually are the promoter themselves and it's not a local promoter. So they've taken a lot of money in the hands to build up the venue, to be the promoter for the next ten years."