Max Verstappen came into this weekend's maiden Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend distinctly underwhelmed about the street circuit layout on the Strip, and his first laps on Thursday night have done nothing to change his mind.
"I’ve had better tracks in my life,” he told the official Formula1.com website after practice. “I already said that yesterday. There’s nothing new that I discovered or whatever, but we’ll just get on with it.”
First practice on Thursday evening was curtailed after a water valve cover was prised up and damaged the undersides of two cars. The start of second practice was delayed while track workers carried out an inspection and repairs.
By the time that FP2 finally went ahead, the fans had been sent home and the night time temperatures had fallen to below 15C once the chequered flag came out at 4am local time.
“It’s slippery,” was Verstappen's verdict on the circuit. “Of course we didn’t really run a lot in FP1 so it took a bit of time to rubber in a little bit more. At the end it was a little bit better.
"The soft [compound tyre] over one lap of course is good,” Verstappen acknowledged. “The long run was a bit more difficult.
"It seemed like the soft tyre was struggling quite a lot out, there so we very quickly went onto the medium," he noted. "It won’t be super straightforward to pick the tyres for the race.
Verstappen completed 37 laps in the session which was extended to 90 minutes for the earlier curtailment. "We managed to do the whole program, which I guess was the most important for today.”
"I think we still look very good compared to others but I feel like maybe we can still do a better job," he said. "There’s still a bit of things that we have to look into, to see how we can improve our deg on the long run
Verstappen's best time of 1:36.183s was only good enough for sixth, over nine tenths off the pace of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. His Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez actually fared better and was fourth quickest.
"It’s a shame that FP1 ended the way it did," said the Mexican. "I feel very sorry for the fans. However, I’m sure we will have a good weekend of racing ahead of us.
"It’s a brand-new track and the grip level is quite low, which does make things a lot more challenging in the car. We have made good progress, which is important, so I am happy with our performance so far.
"Ferrari have a strong race pace, but we will see what tomorrow brings. Come race day I think we will be there," he predicted.
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