Why Max Verstappen's early weekend criticism and post-race celebration at the F1 Las Vegas GP made sense

Max Verstappen's startling switch in behaviour after the race in Las Vegas drew the ire of F1 pundit Jolyon Palmer. The Red Bull driver had been extremely critical of the race and the festivities around it. Throughout the weekend, he expressed his displeasure about the 'show' element that he did not associate with at all.

The Dutchman criticized the track and claimed that he had driven on better ones. He criticized the fact that he and others 'stood like clowns' on the stage and he even claimed that the race was '99% show, 1% racing'. Come Sunday, the race was a true spectacle and after Verstappen won, he started singing 'Viva Las Vegas'.

The duality of his behaviour throughout the weekend and after the race seemed off to many but if you look close enough to what Verstappen said the entire weekend, it makes absolute sense.

Jolyon Palmer's criticism

Jolyon Palmer has turned out to be one of the more vocal critics of the Red Bull driver's behaviour. Talking about Max Verstappen's behavioural switch on the BBC Chequered Flag podcast, Palmer termed it 'embarrassing'.

“Honestly, some of the comments before this weekend, even during this weekend, the negativity has been embarrassing. Max has been very critical of the event and it’s been a tremendous success,” he said.

“I just think let’s wait until you have the race to see if we think it’s good or not. And generally, it’s great. You can’t one minute say this is a shambles, this race, if Monaco is Champions League then this is National League, and then 50 laps later you’re singing ‘Viva Las Vegas’ in an Elvis suit. Come on,” Palmer added.

Why Max Verstappen's behaviour made sense

Now since we've taken a look at Jolyon Palmer's comments on Max Verstappen's behaviour, let's understand why they made sense.

What were the comments he made?

Up until Sunday, Verstappen was quite vocal in his criticism of the race. He felt that the event was more of a show than the sporting spectacle that it should be. In almost every aspect of the race weekend, the Red Bull driver was critical.

While Mercedes boss Toto Wolff had come down vociferously against the critics of the event, Verstappen took a different stance. He even questioned whether Wolff would have a similar stance if it was his car not Carlos Sainz's Ferrari that had suffered the damage.

Verstappen was not a a fan of the track either as when he was questioned about how much he liked driving around it, the Red Bull driver abruptly said "he had driven on better ones".

Overall it did appear that the Dutchman was just not happy with anything that was going on, be it the safety concerns, the track layout or even how the 'show aspect' had taken over.

Was Verstappen justified?

The question has to be tackled in two ways. The first is from the perspective of a purist. Max Verstappen talked about this at length after qualifying where he shared what F1 meant to him as a youngster. It was about racing, it was about passion and it certainly was not about turning races into what he called 'a place to get sh**faced'.

The second perspective is from the business point of view. A race in the United States is turned into a spectacle with so many side events because that seems to be what works in that market. The Super Bowl in America is notorious for having long stoppages between the games where artists perform. That's what makes those events work and that's why F1 brought Bruce Buffer to do some of his most awkward introductions of an athlete.

From a purist's perspective, the Las Vegas GP was a tough watch. What happened on Friday was downright embarrassing for the organizers. To top it all off, the track just didn't leave anyone impressed because it was just another similar-looking street track that have popped up on the calendar recently.

Be it Miami, Jeddah or the one in Vegas, there was hardly anything distinctive among them. Additionally, a purist might not be a huge fan of F1's emphasis on things outside of the track. The celebrities are fine but there's almost too much show business and Max Verstappen's two-minute monologue about what he grew up perceiving F1 as and what it's becoming now resonated with a bunch of fans.

Now looking at it from a business point of view FOM's objective is to grow the sport from where it is right now. It is trying to break into the American market and it is doing a brilliant job of it. To continue to do that, it does appear that this formula works. And if it does, it's hard to argue it something makes business sense.

Why Max Verstappen was jubilant on Sunday

Plenty of theories have been doing the rounds over why Max Verstappen suddenly fell in love with the track at Las Vegas. Some of the theories floating around have been hilarious, including the one suggested by Sky F1 commentator David Croft on the live telecast.

Croft felt that one of the reasons why Verstappen was not too happy throughout the weekend was because he expected to struggle on the track. The theory caught further wind when the Dutchman won the race on Sunday and only then celebrated.

The theory seems a bit ridiculous as everyone, including Red Bull, expected Verstappen to be the favorite before the weekend and at no point was there an indication that something like that was not going to be the case.

The key reason is, however, different and it stems from what Verstappen said on Saturday. He talked about how F1 represented passion, emotion, and just pure racing. That's what Formula 1 stands for in his view.

In the Las Vegas GP, Verstappen got what he feels F1 means to him. He got pure racing, he got competition, there was emotion and there was passion. No wonder the kid that grew up watching the sport looking for these things was singing 'Viva Las Vegas'.

Unfortunately, Jolyon Palmer missed these details and pounced on Max Verstappen.