Guenther Steiner suggests F1 calendar change which Max Verstappen would HATE

Guenther Steiner

Steiner suggests F1 calendar change which Max Verstappen would HATE

The Haas team principal believes there is still plenty of room to grow

Graham Shaw Consultant Editor

Digital sports specialist running global brands for 30 years

Sunday 23 April 2023 08:57 Updated: 10:32

Guenther Steiner has a suggestion to further spice up the ever-growing F1 calendar, but not everybody is going to love it.

The Haas team principal believes the sport can expand the number of Sprint Races on the annual schedule, including the controversial format on as many as half of the races.

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This year F1 will stage 23 races, and it seems likely that will grow to 24 in 2024. A gruelling grind for all concerned.

Obviously the commercial side of the sport would love even more, but Steiner has an alternative suggestion to more race weekends. How about more sprints...

Guenther Steiner advocates more F1 Sprint Races

He told Reuters: “I don’t know if we will do it every race weekend. Maybe do a few more or maybe do half of the calendar, but the F1 promoter will know what to do.

“At the moment there is more demand for races [than slots available] so how can you get more races in, more competition, more racing if we cannot do more than 24 events? So just make the event double count.”

Steiner argues that having sprint qualifying rather than FP3 on a Saturday morning for example would only improve the quality of a race weekend.

“The session on Saturday morning became almost worthless because nobody was watching it, the teams couldn’t do any changes on the car except trying the tyre out for the race so there was no real interest.

“So I think that is a good addition to the weekend to put a sprint qualifying in.

“You have to see how it works with the fans, if they like it, how the numbers come back and then decide what to do as the next step. But at the moment I support very much the sprint qualifying.”

There would of course be some dissenting voices to such a plan, with reigning world champion Max Verstappen likely at the top of the list.

The Dutchman recently said sprints are against the DNA of the sport, explaining: “I’m not a fan of it at all. When we are going to do all that kind of stuff the weekend becomes even more intense and we’re already doing so many races. So I think that is not the right way to go at it.

“I understand because they want to have every day exciting but then I think maybe it’s better to just reduce the weekend. Race, Saturday and Sunday, make those two days exciting, because we’re adding to seasons where you have 24, 25 races."

Verstappen also said he would not stay in the sport for the long haul if the schedule and format are tinkered with too much.

F1 of course has already doubled the number of Sprint races taking place, from three in 2022 to six this season.