"It's probably not in their interest to listen to what the drivers say": Max Verstappen on F1 push for sprint races contrary to what he would want

Max Verstappen believes driver opinions are not in the interest of Formula 1 when it comes to the sport pushing for more entertainment.

Speaking to the media, including Sportskeeda, ahead of the 2023 Qatar GP, the Dutchman rued the sprint format weekend and its disadvantages for the drivers.

Criticizing the sprint format weekend at the Qatar circuit, Max Verstappen has never refrained from commenting or expressing his dislike over the sprint format.

However, the Dutchman explained that given the changing weather conditions in Losail, the sprint format made the weekend tricky with a single session available to setup the car.

Asked by Sportskeeda if he had a say or gave inputs on the sporting side to F1, Max Verstappen replied:

“No. I have voiced my opinion and will always continue to do so. I think it’s freedom of speech. But yeah. It’s probably also not in their interest to hear what the driver’s say. They want to spice it up a bit and maybe sell more tickets. I’m a pure, I look at it from the pure racing side but I also understand the commercial side and the reasons behind it. So you have to take it from both ways. Of course I understand why they try to spice it up a little bit.”

Asked if the subject had a consensus in the GPDA or it was discussed, the Dutchman said:

“I think some drivers also like it, but it also depends on your car right. Because when you think ‘ah i can risk a bit more in the sprint race and get a few more points’, you’ll always be a bit more positive about it. That’s why you’ll never get a hundred percent agreement with the drivers cause everyone is a bit in a different position. But from the pure racing side, like I just takes a bit of the excitement out of the Sunday race I think.”

As a purist of the sport, Max Verstappen believes that the sprint format steals the excitement from the main Grand Prix. Answering Sportskeeda’s question about whether he had a say on the sporting side as a reigning champion, the Dutchman felt driver opinions were not in the interest of the sport.

Exercising his freedom of speech, he assured that he would continue to be vocal about his opinions, but he felt the sport’s main intention with the sprint format was to orchestrate the show.

As much as he voiced out the purist’s perspective, the double world champion was understanding of the commercial side of the sport and the F1 management’s intention to improve the entertainment value trackside.

On whether other drivers agreed with his opinion on the sprint format, the Dutch champion felt that it was difficult to get a consensus on the subject.

He believes that despite the unpopularity of the sprint format, it can benefit various drivers, depending on their car and their position in the pecking order. The sprint format has always allowed drivers with a car disadvantage to benefit from taking a risk to maximize their result on a Saturday.

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Max Verstappen believes the sprints are a bad spoiler for the race from a fan perspective

Always vocal about his opinion on the sporting side, Max Verstappen was elaborate in citing the disadvantages of the sprint format from a purist’s perspective.

The Dutch champion felt that the sprint made the race more predictable, and drivers are subjected to taking fewer risks in qualifying since there is only a single session available to set up their car for all sessions.

Max Verstappen felt that there is a need for more practice sessions to build up the momentum for the weekend in terms of car setups.

The 26-year-old believes that the sprint sometimes drops spoilers for the race, which makes fans predict the outcome of the weekend, especially with the top teams or more dominant ones.

Explaining the disadvantages of the sprint format from both a driver's and a fan’s perspective, Max Verstappen said:

“It’s not like it came out of the blue that i was going to win the championship in here or next week. I don’t think it changes a lot but its more for the drivers as well. I prefer just the normal format. I think its more exciting, specially qualifying can go to the limit, you know what you’ve done in practice."

He added:

"For example, in Suzuka if you do FP1 there and go straight into qualifying you risk also to have big shunts. It’s not as fulfilling. I always keep saying once you do the sprint race, you always get the big picture anyway for the main race. So you more or less know a bit of our world, this car is going to be really good in the race, the other one is going to drop back.”

Elaborating further, Max Verstappen added:

“It takes a lit bit of the excitement away. I remember from when I was a fan, from the outside of the F1 world, like you don't know which one is particularly amazing in the long run or have they nailed the race setup. You watch qualifying and you’re like oh wow ok. But it might be that one car is in the front and it will drop back in the race."

He continued:

"It’s all unclear and then you wake up for the Sunday race and you all it see it all unfold. But because of the sprint race it takes that already away. If nothing happens, if they don’t crash then you know they are going to win that race, the team or whatever.”

On his way to wrapping up his third world championship, Max Verstappen could wrap up the title fight on Saturday itself if he wins the sprint race.

Warmer temperatures at the Losail circuit and a sprint format are the only factors that could delay the Dutchman’s bid to seal his title in Qatar.

With 400 points to his tally, the double champion leads his teammate by a 177-point margin in one of the most dominant seasons of his career.