07 May 2024 , 16:17
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Donald Trump received a mixed reception as he attended the Miami Grand Prix - but Max Verstappen was one of those delighted that he was there.
Not because he is a fan of the former US President, though. The Red Bull racer, who does not enjoy being in the spotlight, was simply glad that someone else was the centre of attention in the paddock.
And he cracked a joke to that effect as he spoke to broadcast media after the race. Asked about Trump's presence, he smiled and said: "It's good because everyone looks at him, and then they don't bother me!"
While Verstappen didn't want to share the limelight with Trump, McLaren were happy to welcome the 77-year-old to their team garage. While there he was shown around Lando Norris' car and posed for photos with chief executive Zak Brown.
Many local fans were delighted to see him there as Trump led chants of: "USA, USA." But his presence also brought criticism from many fans who pointed out that his presence, especially while wearing a 'Make America Great Again' cap, made a mockery of FIA rules banning F1 drivers from making political statements.
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And Norris was criticised by some for saying he had "a lot of respect" for the controversial former President, who is currently on trial accused of hiding a hush-money payment to a porn actress. The 24-year-old said it was "an honour" to be congratulated by Trump.
He added: "There's a lot of special people, cool people that have been here this weekend. Donald is someone that you've got to have a lot of respect for, in many ways, and for anyone like that who acknowledges what you can go out and do, and acknowledges the work ethic that goes into things, you've got to be thankful for that, and I was. So, yeah. Cool moment, and that's all."
The level of criticism received by McLaren prompted the team to release a statement explaining why they had welcomed Trump into their garage and defending their decision to do so. It read: "McLaren is a non-political organisation however we recognise and respect the office of President of the United States.
"So when the request was made to visit our garage on race day we accepted alongside the president of the FIA and the CEOs of Liberty Media and Formula 1.
"We were honoured that McLaren Racing was chosen as the representative of F1 which gave us the opportunity to showcase the world class engineering that we bring to motorsport."