Max Verstappen will start Sunday’s US Grand Prix at Austin from row three after Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took pole ahead of Ferrari’s Lando Norris McLaren
Max Verstappen believes divisive Formula 1 Sprint format ‘loses a bit of excitement’ after race weekends.
Verstappen won Saturday’s sprint race ahead of the United States Grand Prix in Austin on Sunday. The format, introduced in 2021, sees drivers compete in a short race the day before the main event to earn extra championship points.
Like many F1 fans, Verstappen is not a fan of sprint races. However, Lewis Hamilton called them “fun”. Although the seven-time world champion believes the sprint format could be improved, he appreciates the added competition and entertainment it brings.
Verstappen, who won this year’s championship in the sprint race in Qatar, gave his opinion on the matter on Saturday. “I love it, it’s amazing,” he said sarcastically. “If you want my honest opinion on the sprint weekend, I’m not really excited about it.”
Most F1 race weekends have practice on Friday, qualifying on Saturday and racing on Sunday. However, sprint weekends will see practice and qualifying on Friday, shootout (sprint qualifying) and sprints on Saturday, then racing on Sunday.
Verstappen was speaking at a group press conference.
He added:
“I just feel like once you complete qualifying (on the Friday), you’re a bit lost. I feel like we only need one qualifying in the weekend where you really put everything on the line and it feels great.
“This morning as well, like you put it on P1, but… it’s a Saturday and there’s not many points anyway for the race. And other than that, now that we’ve done this race, everyone more or less knows what’s going to happen tomorrow between all the cars in terms of speed.
“It takes away a little bit of the excitement. If we don’t get this done today and just had these qualifying yesterday, you really don’t know what’s going to happen before the race. So, Everyone’s so excited, turn on the TV because you don’t know. And we don’t know either. Now we know, a little bit.”
Hamilton joked. Verstappen looked “a bit bored” before the world champion replied:
“I’m not bored, but if I were a fan, I would just disappointing because then you know you more or less know the picture and nothing crazy happens. You know what will happen tomorrow.
“So I find that the magic of waking up on Sunday morning or Sunday afternoon and turning on the TV, and qualifying, but not knowing which car will be fastest, in most cases, takes years, and it took losing that magic, I found
Hamilton then said:
“To me, it was very exciting. I love having more opportunities to get out and about and try to make the most of the package we have.
“Could it be better? Of course. I think it’s fun for everyone, so personally I really enjoy sprint weekends. I especially like Friday where you only have one practice session and then you go straight into qualifying.”
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