F1 Champ Verstappen Grumble at ‘Extreme’ Weed Smell
F1 champion Max Verstappen at the Dutch Grand Prix 2024. Photo source: Steffen Prößdorf on Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Dutch racer Max Verstappen became F1 world champion on Nov. 24. Finishing fifth at the race in Las Vegas was enough to crown him world champ for the fourth time. Several drivers, including Verstappen, complained about the “extreme smell” of weed around the track in Sin City.
“I was quite high in the car!” Verstappen was quoted as saying. “It’s not ideal, because you can smell it while driving and it’s quite extreme.” Formula One drivers are strictly prohibited from using drugs, and there’s no suggestion that any driver was compromised during the Vegas race. But apparently the smell from nearby cannabis dispensaries was felt on the grid.
Other F1 Drivers Also Noticed the Pungent Smell of Weed
Verstappen’s colleague, Sergio Perze also protested about the pungent aroma that hit the hot track. “I’m a bit tired of it already - the amount is incredible. It’s something all the drivers will definitely talk about,” the Mexican ace commented.
Argentine Franco Colapinto agreed: “Yes, there was a smell of weed,” he said. “I think we’ll all test positive, I swear - when we all test positive, there will be a mess.”
Weed smell incidents at sports events are becoming increasingly common. Last year, tennis players competing at the US Open tournament in New York also complained about the smell of cannabis during their matches. “The whole court smells like weed,” German tennis player Alexander Zverev remarked at the time. “Defenetly smells like Snoop Dogg’s living room,” he said.
A year before that, top tennis player Nick Kyrgios got into a quarrel with the umpire at the same venue as he reported being bothered by someone sitting in the stands smoking cannabis. The umpire disregarded his complaint as he believed it was a kitchen smell. Kyrgios became furious: “It was fucking marijuana,” he added.
Cannabis is legal in both New York state and Nevada. The F1 Grand Prix circuit in Las Vegas is in the heart of the city, passing around the famous strip with all the casinos. But also a lot of cannabis dispensaries are now located there. Even though racegoers are banned from bringing weed into the 3.8 mile circuit, dispensaries such as Planet 13 and Cookies are on the Strip and are in the immediate vicinity of it.
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Stephen Andrews
