Max Verstappen won the US Grand Prix sprint race on Saturday, making him the first driver in a record-breaking season to win three sprint races. With his triumph and early-stage fight with Lewis Hamilton in the 19-lap race, he has laid the groundwork for another potentially dominant performance in the USGP main race.
Despite bagging 3 wins in Sprint races this season, the Dutchman is not really happy with the short format of racing. According to Fia.com, the 26-year-old expressed his lack of excitement with the sprint race because of the predictability of the outcomes and their impact on the overall thrill of the race weekend. However, Max Verstappen’s biggest rival on the grid, Lewis Hamilton, has taken a different stance.
Max Verstappen raises concern about the Sprint format’s reduced excitement for fans
The Red Bull ace, who has previously acknowledged his displeasure with the sprint weekend format, has once again emphasized how the compacted race has failed to generate enthusiasm for spectators. However, before we go any further, we need to grasp what prompted the Dutchman to bring the matter up in the first place. Given the Dutchman’s performance this year, victory appears to be a piece of cake for him. Similarly, at the USGP Sprint, Verstappen took the lead from Leclerc after clocking the fastest time in qualifying and stayed uncontested until the final lap, gaining 9.4 seconds on P2 a Hamilton. So, when asked if he had enjoyed the sprint race this year, the 26-year-old Dutchman responded sarcastically.
According to Fia. com, Verstappen initially stated,” Love it. It’s fantastic.” However, he quickly expressed his concerns.
The three-time winner admitted that he isn’t really excited about the sprints. The explanation he noted was really intriguing as while expanding, he stated that once the qualifying is completed, the drivers get a bit lost, and, in his opinion, the motorist only needs one qualifying in the weekend to bring everyone on line.
Max Verstappen believes F1’s sprint format “takes a little bit of the excitement away” from race weekends 💥
But Lewis Hamilton disagrees…
Read more 👉 https://t.co/UU2eq5wKIU pic.twitter.com/i2sDXOypxt
— Mirror Sport (@MirrorSport) October 22, 2023
Verstappen provided a perfect instance and said, “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 that takes a bit of the excitement away from it. If we wouldn’t have done today and we only had that qualifying that we had yesterday, you don’t really know what’s going to happen before the race.”
Though Hamilton was quick to poke fun and ask, “Sounds like you’re a bit bored.” Responding, Verstappen further added,” I’m not bored but if I would be a fan, I would just be disappointed because then you more or less know about the picture. If nothing crazy happens, you know what’s going to happen tomorrow so I find that a bit… it takes away that magic of waking up on a Sunday morning or whatever.”
Giving contrasting views, the seven-time champion said, ” It’s a slightly different perspective when you’re chasing so for us it’s fun.” Later, by continuing, Hamilton explained that he strives to take advantage of any extra opportunity to get out on the circuits and try to squeeze everything. In a nutshell, the British ace’s intent seemed to maximize the use of the Mercedes package.
How Lewis Hamilton shows his appreciation for the tight Friday schedule
As much as Max Verstappen has been critical of the Sprint format, Lewis Hamilton has been enthusiastic about it. The 103 Grand Prix winner has contested on a variety of circuits in his illustrious career. Still, he feels delighted to embrace the approach of having a tight schedule on Friday and not get critical of it.
Since the FIA introduced new regulations requiring qualifying for the main GP on Friday and the sprint shootout on Saturday as a separate event, Hamilton has been the most vocal in his support for the concept.
In light of this, the Briton appeared ecstatic after the post-race press conference at the USGP regarding the sprint format. Following his P2 finish, the seven-time champion trimmed his points margin over Sergio Perez even further. However, when asked about his stance on the Sprint matter, Hamilton commented, ” Particularly a Friday I really like where you only have one practice session and then you’re straight into qualifying.”
