Oscar Piastri, a rookie, gave Wednesday night’s opening ceremony of the Las Vegas Grand Prix a “10,” indicating that he was a huge fan.
The race this weekend is being promoted by Formula 1, and they have gone to great lengths to make it as huge as possible—on par with the esteemed Super Bowl.
An opening ceremony featuring the raising of each driver onto a platform on the start/finish straight was held to get everyone in the spirit for the Grand Prix.
Most of the drivers seemed to enjoy the bright and sparkling occasion.
Piastri was among the drivers that relished the unique beginning to the Grand Prix, having been “greeted by Elvis” a few days prior.
On McLaren’s X (formerly Twitter) page, Piastri remarked, “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.”
“I had entirely forgotten about the wonderful sign that I saw earlier.
“I’ll wake up soon, but I’m still getting used to the fact that we’re rocking up to the track and it’s already dark.”
Max Verstappen was the primary critic of the F1 spectacle, highlighting his annoyance at being forced to compete in events that make him appear like a “clown.”
Free Practise 1 was called after barely eight minutes on Thursday night, so the only clown on display was the sport itself.
Carlos Sainz struck a loose manhole cover, seriously damaging his entire car, and the session was stopped.
Free Practise 2 was delayed by 150 minutes because F1 and the FIA determined they needed more time to inspect and adjust every manhole cover on the track.
Finally, at 2:30 am local time, a ninety-minute practise session began; however, no fans showed up after they were ordered to leave because of staffing issues.
Charles Leclerc led a Ferrari 1-2 when FP2 finally got underway, with Fernando Alonso coming in third.
It was a sombre start to the Las Vegas Grand Prix, which will only strengthen the claims that the event’s entertainment value was overshadowed by the racing.
