Rookie Oscar Piastri has admitted that he was a big fan of Wednesday evening’s Las Vegas Grand Prix opening ceremony, with him having rated it a “10”.
Formula 1 are promoting this weekend’s event themselves and have done everything in their power to ensure that it’s as big an event as possible, on a similar scale to the prestigious Super Bowl.
To get everybody in the mood for the Grand Prix, an opening ceremony was put on, with each driver having been raised onto a platform on the start/finish straight.
It was a bright and dazzling affair, which the majority of the drivers embraced.
Want to work in Formula 1? Browse the latest F1 job vacancies
Piastri was one of the drivers who enjoyed the unusual start to the Grand Prix, whilst he was also “greeted by Elvis” earlier on in the week.
“You’ve got to rate it a 10, you don’t get greeted by Elvis anywhere else, so yeah a nice little entrance to the week,” Piastri said on McLaren’s X (formerly Twitter) page.
“The sign was cool as well, I forgot about that completely, already.
“I’m still getting used to the fact that we’re rocking up to the track and it’s dark already, but I’ll wake up soon.”
The main driver against the show put on by F1 was Max Verstappen, who highlighted his displeasure at having to participate in events which make him look like a “clown”.
When action got underway on Thursday evening, the only clown on show was the sport itself, as Free Practice 1 was cancelled after just eight minutes.
The session was stopped after Carlos Sainz hit a loose manhole cover, causing significant damage to the entirety of his car.
F1 and the FIA decided that they needed time to check and make changes to every manhole cover on the circuit, resulting in a 150-minute delay to Free Practice 2 getting underway.
READ: Pierre Gasly thrilled he ‘didn’t kill anyone’
An extended 90-minute practice session finally started at 2:30am local time; however, no fans were in attendance after they were asked to leave due to staffing problems.
When FP2 eventually got going, it was Charles Leclerc who topped what was a Ferrari 1-2, with Fernando Alonso in third.
It marked a dark opening day to the Las Vegas GP, which will only increase the arguments that the show element of the event was prioritised over the racing itself.