Verstappen continues his criticism of F1's ‘unfulfilling’ sprint format

Verstappen has been consistent in his disdain for the F1 Sprint which was introduced at the start of 2021.

Initially, there were just three sprint events, however that was doubled to six for F1 2023.

The format sees qualifying take place on a Friday, with a second qualifying scheduled for Saturday morning to dictate the grid for the sprint race later that day.

The F1 Sprint still hasn’t won over everyone, including Verstappen, who could win his third world title this weekend in Qatar.

“I prefer the normal racing format. I think it's just a bit more exciting,” Verstappen said.“Especially in qualifying, you can go more to the limit because you know more of what you've done in practice. 

“For example in Suzuka, if you do FP1 there and then go straight into qualifying, you risk having bigger shunts. It’s just not as fulfilling. I always keep saying that once we do a sprint race, you will get the big picture anyway for the main race. 

“So you know, more or less already: ‘Oh, well, this guy is going to be really good in the race, the other one is going to drop back’. So it takes a little bit of the excitement away. I remember from what I was a fan, just from the outside of the F1 world, you don't know which cars are particularly amazing in the long run.

“You watch qualify like, ‘oh, wow, OK’, but it might be that one car is in front and he will drop back in the race, which is all unclear. And then you wake up for the Sunday race, and then you all see them fall. Because of the sprint race... it takes that away. You're like: ‘If nothing happens, he doesn't crash, they're gonna win the race’, that team or whatever.”

Due to the nature of the format, it’s highly likely Verstappen will be crowned 2023 champion following the sprint on Saturday, rather than after the main grand prix 24 hours later.

Verstappen shrugged off questions about winning it in the middle of a race weekend.

“It’s not like it came out of the blue that I was going to win the championship here, or next week,” he added.

“So I don't think it really changes a lot.I know that if I win or whatever I achieve on Saturday, you win the championship, but I think we're very focused on the main job anyway, just to have a good weekend.”