19 November 2023 , 04:50
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Formula 1 fans reacted in their droves to the painfully awkward moment Sergio Perez was introduced to the Las Vegas Grand Prix crowd.
For the first time in 40 years, F1 is racing in the US three times in the same calendar year. Miami hosted the first event in May while last month saw the US GP in Austin, while this is the first official running of the Las Vegas GP.
In Miami, a driver ceremony was trialled before the race which received mixed feedback from fans. It did not happen in Texas but it returned before Sunday's race in Sin City.
Legendary UFC announcer Bruce Buffer was brought in to stand on the grid and introduce drivers one by one. They would then get into the classic cars parked behind him so that they could be taken on a lap of the circuit to wave to the crowd, as is standard before any F1 race.
But it brought a horribly awkward moment when Perez clearly was at a loss of what to do. He walked onto the grid as Buffer called his name but, instead of going straight to his car, he stood in front of the announcer apparently expecting some sort of interview.
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The end result was Buffer screaming Perez's name into the Mexican racer's face while he stood there and nervously smiled. The host then just smiled and backed away to wait for the next driver to introduce, while Perez just stood there, looking around for a cue of what to do next.
When Buffer moved on to introduce his team-mate Max Verstappen, Perez finally got the hint and walked off. Naturally, the moment was picked up on by fans who couldn't wait to voice their opinions on the incident.
"Checo [Perez ] looks traumatised at the end man," wrote one fan on social media. Another said: "Perez getting yelled at by the announcer was funny." And a third added: "Love watching F1 but this looked more like a circus than a build up to a F1 race."
Verstappen, as expected, was stony-faced as he came out and wasted little time before just getting on with what he had to do. He has already criticised everything about the Las Vegas GP so far this weekend after starting by blasting it as "99 percent show and one percent sporting event".
After qualifying, he went one step further. "Monaco is Champions League... this is National League," the Red Bull racer quipped to journalists, comparing F1 glamour events past and present to football competitions of wildly different prestige.