Verstappen slates 'no feeling' sprints as F1 gears up for expansion

Ian Parkes
Tuesday 8 November 2022 06:00

Max Verstappen has again heavily criticised F1's persistence with the sprint ahead of its planned expansion to six races next season.

This weekend's São Paulo Grand Prix stages the last of the three one-third-distance events this year which, for the most part, have added an additional degree of excitement and intrigue to a race weekend.

Verstappen, though, has never been a fan since the races were introduced last year on a trial basis, with F1 and the FIA - the latter after a study into the impact of the initial trio of sprints in 2021 - opting to expand the calendar.

Asked whether he was looking forward to additional sprint races in 2023, two-time F1 champion Verstappen said: “No, I don’t like it.

"The weekend format for me, I enjoy. I don’t mind the one practice [session] and going straight into qualifying, It is probably even better for me, but there is no feeling with it.

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“All the time, when I do these races, it is all about 'Let’s not have damage' and making sure that you stay in the top three, and for me, that is not really a race.

"Because you go into the main race and there are way more points available there anyway, and you just risk a bit more there.

“So, you do another start and probably that is a bit of excitement, but then mainly throughout these races, it is only really people that are out of position who move forward because normally you just put a tyre on that can last the whole stint anyway, the whole race distance, and not much happens.”

Suggested to Verstappen the possibility of an additional qualifying, so the sprint and the grand prix have their own independent sessions, he replied: "We should just stick to one race. I don’t understand what the problem is with that.

“We have had so many exciting races, so you don’t need to add one-third of a race distance.

“Everyone is super-careful anyway because if you are fighting for third and you have a little touch and drop back to last, you know your race on Sunday is going to be pretty tough, so probably you are not going to risk it.

"That is not what a race should be about.”