Verstappen casts verdict on slippery Vegas track: ‘Everyone was scared’

The Red Bull Racing driver, in his post-race press conference, revealed that although he is a fan of wet-weather conditions, the Las Vegas track was a step too far.

“It was super slippery; it felt like ice. To be honest, not a lot of fun to drive. I love driving in the wet, but this, for me, was a little bit too much, I would say,” he stated.

Verstappen also highlighted how careful drivers had to be during qualifying, expressing surprise at the minimal number of incidents that occurred throughout the session.

“We were a little bit more competitive on the extreme tyres than the Inters. It was just super hard to do a clean lap. You have people backing out, yellow flags, locking up yourself, 360s—all of that. We just went through qualifying without too many dramas," he concluded.

The qualifying session for the Las Vegas Grand Prix was heavily affected by the weather, forcing drivers to rely on wet tyres for the first two parts of qualifying before switching to intermediates for Q3. Despite the tricky track conditions, Verstappen was able to set a lap time quick enough for a front-row start ahead of the main race.

Verstappen’s words were echoed by championship rival Lando Norris. The McLaren driver described the Vegas qualifying as “really stressful.”

The British driver, who secured pole position, admitted to the slippery nature of the circuit and revealed how he came close to hitting the wall. Norris concluded by calling the session “not the nicest of conditions.”

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