Verstappen: Sprint Races so exciting, fun, fantastic [NOT]
F1 NewsSaturday, 04 November 2023 at 11:39
Max Verstappen replied sarcastically when asked for his opinion about Sprint Race weekends, the triple Formula 1 World Champion is still not a fan, while there are mixed feelings among his fellow drivers.
It is no secret that F1's most successful driver in Sprint Races, a six-time winner, Red Bull ace Verstappen has never been a fan of the format that slices a Grand Prix in half. Friday's qualifying goes into pause mode, with no relevance to today's mini-GP, before firing up for Sunday's race.
All of which Verstappen finds dilutes from the real show, namely the Grand Prix. Hence when asked in the FIA-hosted F1 drivers' press conference at Interlagos for his thoughts about this season's Sprint Races.
Heaped with obvious sarcasm, Verstappen quipped: "Yeah, it’s been absolutely fantastic. So much fun." When asked to elaborate, he continued the mockery: "I get so excited by having a Sprint again. I'm all for it."
One imagines that criticising Sprint Races is not looked kindly upon by the F1 commercial powers trying to salvage and sustain interest in a 2023 F1 World Championship season that was 'settled' by the Canadian Grand Prix in June. Verstappen, of course, is responsible for the state of affairs, thanks to his record-breaking and ruthless dominance.
But he is a triple F1 World Champion and like his counterparts on the grid currently, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, their status means they cannot be muzzled.
Hamilton: I love that we do have a different format
Hence, unsurprisingly most of Verstappen's F1 colleagues had a lot more positive things to say about the Sprint Race format including seven-time World Champ Lewis Hamilton, who even suggested F1 try a reverse order grid concept for Sprints.
"Saturday's not the greatest of days," acknowledged Hamilton. "But I like the single practice session straight into qualifying. I think we can learn. I love that we do have a different format, rather than just the same three practice sessions and then the qualifying and the race.
"But the best Sprint race I ever had was when I started last and so I'm in favour of the reverse order, except if we had that then everyone will just try and qualify last! But I think it maybe should be a little bit longer the Sprint Race because it's something like 19 laps or something," suggested Hamilton.
AlphaTauri's Daniel Ricciardo gave his opinion: "I think, yeah, I've done four. Spa was a sprint? I think yeah, then Austin. So, out of now, which will be my fifth race, three of them have been Sprints. So I'm like a Sprint veteran! I liked some of them.
"I think there’s room for a few of them across the calendar. It does change it up a little bit. I still, like, prefer a conventional weekend. You know, if it's one or the other I'd take the conventional.
"But, look, if we have obviously in a season of 23-24 races if half a dozen of them are Sprint, I think yeah, it adds a little bit of spice. But I wouldn't want to go down, say, the MotoGP route and have it every weekend," reckoned Ricciardo.
Stroll: I don't mind them
Echoing the Australian, Aston Martin's Lance Stroll said: "I don't mind them. I think it's exciting every time you get in the car, you know, there's something to fight for. And yeah, more action for everyone kind of watching back home too.
"Sometimes I kind of felt like last week, you know, after having the Sprint in Austin and then going to Mexico and kind of having that, you know, more normal weekend, I felt like there was a lot of practice and just, you know, Friday was a long day and Austin was kind of just full-on, you know, every session just, like I said, something, something to fight for.
"And yeah, I think it was a much more kind-of exciting weekend than Mexico. So, I definitely think it, you know, spices things up and makes it, yeah, interesting for everyone watching at home," ventured the Canadian.
Lando Norris admitted he was fence-sitting: "I'm in the middle. I've always liked the normal race weekend, to be honest. So, if I could just choose, I just go back to having that. But the reason is for the fans and to put on more of a show and things like that.
"I like the challenge of just FP1-Qualifying. I think it's better. I think it's, for me, more enjoyable, more of a challenge for the engineers and for us as drivers.
"So, if we just had FP1-Qualifying and a main race, you know, Saturday-Sunday, there'll be nice. Two days. So yeah, I think that's maybe the only thing, but it's not my choice, so doesn't matter," added the McLaren driver.
Sargeant: As a rookie it's nice to have three practice sessions
American rookie Logan Sargeant turned out to be a dissenter: "For me, it's not preferred. I think one, as a rookie, it's nice to have the three practice sessions.
But on top of that, I just feel like Saturday is a bit of a standalone day that doesn't offer a whole lot. If you're not in the top eight. So I prefer a normal weekend," insisted the Williams driver.
"I quite like it," was Charles Leclerc's answer to the question: "I like the fact of having only one free practice session. I don't think we should have more than six Sprint weekends in a year. I think six is good.
"To have one free practice and go straight to qualifying is something I enjoy. I think the Saturday could be changed and improved but I really like the Friday, to not have three free practice sessions is really long and sometimes it can get a bit boring.
"We always go through the same programme. So I like the fact of having only one free practice and go straight to the action with qualifying," explained the Ferrari driver.
His teammate Carlos Sainz was also not fully enamoured by the format and offered suggestions to improve: "I agree that six is enough. I agree that Saturday's too revealing of what's going to happen on Sunday. It is basically the first stint of the race of Sunday, what you're watching on TV, and this doesn't help, I think, the show for the main race which is the Grand Prix.
"So you arrive to the point, you’d better try something else on Saturday. Is that reverse grids? Is that single-lap qualifying? Is that… whatever, I don't know. But I think given that the Sprint format is a bit of an experiment going on right now in Formula 1.
"I would be open to keep experimenting to see which format is best because for me the one we have now, just Saturday, doesn't feel completely right for what then comes on Sunday," observed Sainz. The Ferrari drivers have yet to win a Sprint Race.
Bottas: I like the Sprint always
Final word to the Sprint Race weekend format's biggest fan, Valtteri Bottas: "I like the Sprint always. I've never been a big fan of three practice sessions. I prefer to have one and then straight to action so that's the nice side of a Sprint weekend.
"Obviously there's always things that could be changed. For example, for us as a team at the moment, unfortunately, it is only the top eight that can score in the sprint so most often it's a bit of a long shot at the moment for us, which is not ideal but of course it's depends on which car you are.
"But other than that, I'm more than happy to do a sprint," declared the veteran Alfa Romeo driver, Bottas a two-time Sprint Race winner.
Apart from the above-mentioned Sprint Race winners, others who have taken P1 include McLaren's Oscar Piastri, Red Bull's Sergio Perez and George Russell, the Mercedes last year's winner of the Sao Paulo Sprint Race at Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace.
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