Sprint winner Max Verstappen (NLD) Red Bull Racing celebrates in parc ferme. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 19, United States Grand Prix, Saturday 21st October 2023. Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas, USA.
Max Verstappen reiterated his stance on Formula 1’s Sprint Race by outlining he “doesn’t really get excited by it” and removes anticipation from Sunday’s grand prix.
Verstappen controlled proceedings in a bland Sprint race on Saturday at the Circuit of the Americas after starting from pole position.
He led all 19 laps and crossed the line almost 10 seconds clear of Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton.
“I love it, it’s fantastic,” said Verstappen sarcastically after being asked for his thoughts on the format.
“If you want my honest opinion about Sprint weekends, I don’t really get excited by it.
“In qualifying I just feel like once you complete qualifying you are a bit lost, I feel like we only need one qualifying in the weekend where you really put everything on the line and it feels great.
“This morning as well, put it on P1, like, pfft, it’s a Saturday, there’s not many points anyway for the race.
“And besides that like now we’ve done this race everyone more or less knows what’s going to happen tomorrow between all the cars in terms of pace, so it takes away a bit the excitement of it.
“If we had not done today, and we only have the qualifying that we had yesterday, you don’t really know what’s going to happen in the race, it’s exciting to turn on the TV because you dont know, and also we don’t know, now we know.”
When second-placed Hamilton playfully suggested Verstappen was finding life up front uninteresting the World Champion replied: “Not bored, but also as a fan I would just be disappointed because you more or less know the picture if nothing crazy happens, you know what’s going to happen tomorrow.
“I find that a bit… it takes away a bit that magic of waking up on a Sunday and turn on the tv and you had qualifying but you’re not sure what car’s going to be quickest – most of the years – and it takes that magic away, I find.”
Keyword: Verstappen: Sprint takes away some Sunday magic