Max Verstappen showed off his singing voice as he channelled his inner Elvis Presley at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
As the Dutchman cruised across the finish line, with pop star Justin Bieber waving the chequered flag, his Red Bull engineers played Elvis’ hit ‘Viva Las Vegas’ through the team radio.
Verstappen, who has spent much of this weekend moaning about the off-track focus in Vegas, claiming he felt ‘like a clown’ during Wednesday’s opening ceremony, was swept up in the moment as he decided to sing along.
‘Viva Las Vegas! Viva Las Vegas!’ Verstappen sang, before chuckling to himself as he waved to the crowd.
He is then told to head to the pits, with one Red Bull staffer joking they should ‘call him Elvis’, which Verstappen soon dismissed: ‘Don’t do that!’
Vegas put on a spectacle for it’s first return for F1 racing there since the 80s – but Verstappen was finding it hard to warm up to.
Nonetheless, he soon found his groove as the weekend came along and organisers will have been delighted to have seen the Dutchman singing his way to glory at the end, clad in a special Elvis race-suit.
Verstappen and team-mate Sergio Perez, who finished third, raced under the lights in specially designed race suits emulating the styles of the ‘King of Rock and Roll’ Elvis Presley.
Checo will be dressed in red while Verstappen will be donning a white suit (capes not included).
“As we gear up for the first ever Grand Prix in Las Vegas, it’s only fitting that we pay tribute to the most prolific Las Vegas icon, Elvis Presley,’ said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.
‘Elvis left his mark on Vegas and the world, becoming synonymous with the glitz, the flash, and the energy of the strip, something we are hoping to replicate as we take to the track on Saturday night.’