Max Verstappen feels it will be a 'big shame to lose' his 'favorite track' at Belgian GP after F1's reported move to return to South Africa in 2023

Max Verstappen doesn’t want F1 to replace the Belgian GP held at Spa-Franchorchamps in favor of a new venue.

Responding to recent reports that suggested that the sport might consider replacing some historic venues such as Spa and Paul Ricard to make space for newer venues elsewhere around the world, Verstappen felt that it would be “a shame” to lose his “favourite track”.

Speaking ahead of the 2022 Austrian GP, the Dutchman said:

“It would be a big shame to lose Spa. It’s my favourite track in the world and also with the recent changes they did to the runoff and stuff. Yeah, I think it’s just an amazing track in a Formula 1 car, any car to be honest, with all the high-speed corners and the flow it has in general.”

F1 is currently planning a potential race in South Africa, while Las Vegas is set to host a GP from 2023 onwards. But given that the current calendar already consists of 23 races, there has been some resistance to including more venues on the schedule.

Hence, recent reports suggested that F1 might consider dropping some existing venues to make way for new circuits, given the higher financial incentives as well as the prospect for growth.

However, the idea hasn’t been well received within the paddock, with some drivers such as Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly joining fans to decry such a replacement.

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Max Verstappen reportedly lost more than 2 seconds per lap due to debris at the British GP

Max Verstappen has claimed that he lost more than two seconds per lap of pace at the British GP last weekend, after he ran over a spare piece of debris early on in the race.

The carbon debris reportedly stalled the floor on Verstappen’s car, while simultaneously damaging the underbody. Speaking ahead of the Austrian GP, he said:

“[It was] terrible! I just lost like two and a half seconds a lap from it, because, of course, it got itself stuck into the floor, but of course, while doing so, it destroys also quite a bit of the underside of the floor.”

He added:

“It was basically stalling the floor, on top of the damage. I was complaining about the puncture because it felt like that, because the car was undriveable in basically all the corners and bouncing a lot and just moving around a lot.”

Max Verstappen could have potentially won the British GP had it not been for the damage. He could ultimately only salvage a P7 after a hard-fought battle against some of the midfield runners, including Esteban Ocon and Mick Schumacher.

It will be interesting to see what he can do in the Austrian GP.