F1 Sprints are in their third year and have been tweaked multiple times already but, no matter what changes to the format are made, Max Verstappen is still not a fan
Max Verstappen will most likely secure his third Formula 1 title in the Qatar Sprint race – but that won’t change his view on the format.
The Dutchman has never attempted to hide his dislike of the Sprints. From the get-go, he was one of the more vocally critical drivers on the grid and has declined to change his view every time F1 chiefs make tweaks to the rules.
And despite the history he is likely to make this Saturday, Verstappen still refuses to budge on his stance. “It’s not like it came out of the blue that I was going to win the championship here, or next week, so I don’t think it really changes a lot,” he told reporters.
“I know that if I win or whatever I achieve on Saturday, you win the championship, but I think we’re very focused on the main job anyway, just to have a good weekend.”
The Dutchman has never attempted to hide his dislike of the Sprints. From the get-go, he was one of the more vocally critical drivers on the grid and has declined to change his view every time F1 chiefs make tweaks to the rules.
And despite the history he is likely to make this Saturday, Verstappen still refuses to budge on his stance. “It’s not like it came out of the blue that I was going to win the championship here, or next week, so I don’t think it really changes a lot,” he told reporters.
“I know that if I win or whatever I achieve on Saturday, you win the championship, but I think we’re very focused on the main job anyway, just to have a good weekend.”
Lewis Hamilton knows fuming F1 chiefs “won’t be happy” with divisive claim at Qatar GP
Lando Norris drops huge hint about his F1 future amid Red Bull links – “I would love to”
Regarding the Sprint format itself, he added: “I prefer the normal racing format. I think it’s just a bit more exciting. Especially in qualifying, you can go more to the limit because you know more of what you’ve done in practice.
“For example in in Suzuka, if you do FP1 there and then go straight into qualifying, you risk having bigger shunts. It’s just not as fulfilling. I always keep saying that once we do a Sprint race, you will get the big picture anyway for the main race.
So you know, more or less, already, ‘Oh, well, this guy is going to be really good in the race, the other one is going to drop back’. So it takes a little bit of the excitement away. I remember from what I was a fan, just from the outside of the F1 world, you don’t know which cars are particularly amazing in the long run.
You watch qualifying like, ‘Oh, wow, okay’. But it might be that one car is in front and he will drop back in the race, which is all unclear. And then you wake up for the Sunday race, and then you all see them fall. Because of the Sprint race… it takes that away. You’re like, ‘If nothing happens, he doesn’t crash, they’re gonna win the race’, that team or whatever.”
That much is probably true about Verstappen and Red Bull this weekend. They recovered from their blip in Singapore to dominate at Suzuka last time out and, on a Qatari track with few slow-speed corners, will be favourites to win both the Sprint and the main race.
Unfortunately for Verstappen, this weekend will not be the last time he has to take part in a Sprint in 2023. There are two more to come from the final five Grand Prix weekends – its use in Austin will mean back-to-back F1 Sprints for the first time, while another is planned for the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Leave a Reply