Lewis Hamilton takes swipe at Max Verstappen over what F1 rival did in Las Vegas

20 November 2023 , 09:14

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Lewis Hamilton loved racing in Las Vegas (Image: Getty Images)

Lewis Hamilton took a thinly-veiled dig at rival Max Verstappen after having a blast on track at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

The seven-time world champion didn't get a lot of luck out on track and ended up finishing down in seventh place. But he still had a whale of a time during the race and was full of praise for the new Vegas street track.

"I'm really happy to have had a positive race and I'm really grateful that the race was so good," he beamed. "I don't know how it was as a spectacle to watch but there was so much overtaking. It was like Baku, but better.

"I really wasn't expecting the track to be so great, but the more and more laps I did, I just really loved racing. Lots of great overtaking opportunities. I think for all those who were so negative about the weekend, saying it's all about the show, blah blah blah, I think Vegas proved them wrong."

Though he did not mention him by name, it was clear that final sentence was referring at least in part to Verstappen. The Red Bull racer spent most of his weekend in Las Vegas criticising the event, taking aim at the track itself as well as all the pageantry off it which, clearly, was not to his taste.

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Before any on-track action had even begun, the triple world champion had begun to complain. Speaking after the event's opening ceremony, which saw the drivers introduced to the crowd on top of large boxes, he said: "For me, you can all skip these things. It's not about the singer, it's just standing up there, you look like a clown.

"[It's] 99 per cent show, and one per cent sporting event... Not a lot of emotions, to be honest. I just like to always focus on the performance side of things. I don't like all the things around it, anyway. I know, of course, in some places, they are part of it, but let's say it's not in my interest."

He later complained about the track itself, telling reporters that he found it dull to drive on. And after qualifying Verstappen issued his most scathing critique of all when he declared: "Monaco is Champions League... this is National League."

Verstappen went on to win the race regardless after a good fight with Charles Leclerc, who threatened to deny the Dutchman. Afterwards, he changed his tune about the track and admitted he had enjoyed racing on it.

He said: "You could clearly see with the DRS around here it was very powerful. So, even when you would take the lead, if the guy behind would stay in the DRS, he would still have an opportunity to come back at you, which I think created quite a lot of good racing here today. So it was definitely a lot of fun."

Daniel Moxon