A three-week break followed Verstappen’s almighty and potentially title-defining victory in Brazil, but F1 2024 has resumed with the Las Vegas Grand Prix, marking the start of a triple-header which will see the season through to its conclusion.
Max Verstappen Las Vegas GP complaints criticised
Following Las Vegas, F1 heads to Qatar before the season concludes in Abu Dhabi.
But with the long flight to Qatar also bringing with it an 11-hour time difference upon arrival, Verstappen believes such a schedule is not going to do the health of the drivers much good.
“The problem for me is mainly the time difference between Vegas and Qatar,” he told Motorsport-Total.com.
“If we do triple-headers, we have to make sure that they are a bit closer together. That would make more sense to me.
“At the end of the season you are simply tired, and you can easily catch a flu. The long flight does not help with that.”
Verstappen’s comments did not drum up much sympathy with former Caterham F1 driver Giedo van der Garde, who argues that the drivers are not the ones worst affected.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said on De Race Show. “If you’re immediately World Champion, you’re not interested. You’re going to sleep for 18 hours on the plane.
“Come on man. You can just whine about it. It’s too cool to race in Las Vegas. It’s more a tough one for the mechanics, who really goes into the last weekend with bags under his eyes.”
Currently 62 points clear of Lando Norris in the Drivers’ Championship, Verstappen goes into the Las Vegas GP knowing that if he is 60 points or more ahead after the final Las Vegas GP classification, then he will be a four-time World Champion.
He is in a commanding position to reach that milestone, though Verstappen is not yet ready to rest assured.
Asked by the media including PlanetF1.com how confident he is that he can secure the title in Las Vegas, Verstappen replied: “At the moment, it’s difficult to tell, because if you look at the last few races in the dry, we didn’t have the pace.
“So it’s not that because we won
in the rain in Brazil suddenly everything is fixed and everything is looking great.
“Of course, you know, it gave me a good position in the Championship. But I also have to be realistic that, you know, we’re still not the quickest. But, yeah, I hope that we can be competitive here.”
