Max Verstappen was reportedly ‘not happy’ after cars used for the driver parade spilled oil the left side of the grid less than two hours before the start of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
In the build-up to Saturday night’s Las Vegas Grand Prix, the drivers did the traditional parade lap, this time in historic cars.
Alas at least one of them broke down at Turn 1 and spilled oil all over the grid, particularly the left side, with confirmed reports that as many as three cars (Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, and Oscar Piastri) were to blame for the pre-race clean-up job.
‘That’s really bad news for Max Verstappen’
But no matter which car it was, Verstappen wasn’t impressed as he’ll be starting on the left side of the grid having qualified second.
“Heard Verstappen was not happy when he saw what happened. Gasly probably too. Cleaning efforts going on right now,” reported Auto Motor und Sport’s Tobi Gruner.
The oil spill meant yet another clean-up job for the track marshals on a weekend marred by track issues.
Pointing to the oil spill, Sky Sports’ Simon Lazenby said: “You can see behind us this is as a result of Oscar Piastri’s track parade car, which has squirting oil all over the track here and there is now a big clean-up operation.
“And it’s right there on the starting grid, right in front of the second grid spot.”
Danica Patrick believes it will “definitely” be a problem for those like Verstappen starting on the left side.
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“That’s definitely unfortunate for those on the inside. This is going to be a loss of grip. This is very unfortunate.
“I don’t know what they’re going to be able to do about it. Are they going to be able to run cars over it for quite a while before? Probably not, it’s a busy grid. This is an issue.”
Martin Brundle agreed, adding that the left side was always going to be the worst side to start on even before the oil spill.
“The dirty side of the grid that was always always going to be slippery anyway,” he said. “So that’s really bad news for Verstappen and all of those behind him.”
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Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
