Reigning Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen has said the proposed changes to Sprint weekends are “more logical” amid his continued stance against the format.
In 2023, F1 expanded Sprints from three to six across the calendar and further altered the format, with Fridays featuring a single practice session ahead of Qualifying for Sunday’s Grand Prix and Saturdays seeing the introduction of the Sprint Shootout Qualifying session, which set the grid for Saturday afternoon Sprints.
Two weeks ago, the F1 Commission proposed a new format, bringing the Sprint qualifying session to Friday, where it will take place after the opening practice session.
Saturday action will begin with the Sprint race itself, followed by qualifying for the Grand Prix.
“I think it’s a bit more logical, I would say, with how the format is formed,” Verstappen told media including Motorsport Week during Thursday’s launch of the Red Bull RB20.
“I mean, for me I don’t get more excited by winning a Sprint or fighting for these kinds of races, but yeah, at least a bit more logical I would say.”
It is understood that parc ferme rules will change with the new format, allowing engineers to make set-up tweaks between the Sprint and Grand Prix Qualifying.
In 2023, parc ferme closed after Friday practice on Sprint weekends, forcing teams to lock in set-ups early with little data to work from.
Verstappen agreed that the parc ferme revisions represent an important change.
“Yeah, I think that’s a bit better,” he said. “Sometimes you get stuck, and you know that your weekend is ruined, you can’t really change anything. So for sure, it will help a bit.”
The Parc Ferme restrictions in 2023 contributed to the disqualification of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc from the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas over excessive plank wear.
Mercedes argued that the lack of Practice time ahead of Parc Ferme prevented it from knowing its setup would wear the plank beyond the legal amount.
Verstappen used the topic at the time to reiterate his negative feelings towards Sprints in general.
“These things only happen really I think when you have a Sprint weekend when everything is so rushed in-between FP1 and qualifying, you think ‘uhhh I think we might be OK,'” the Dutchman said back in October.
“Why do we need to try and invent something? I think our product works, if you just make sure that the cars are competitive and the rules stay the same for a long time, why are we always inventing new things? It almost sounds out of craziness that we need to come up with something,” he added.
“Just leave it the same. In football, you don’t change the rules or in other sports. It’s been like that for 100 years.
“Why do we suddenly need to come up with other things to try and make it entertaining? I think if you have a good race on your hands with cars being close to each other, then you don’t need a Sprint format or weekend.”
The proposed new format for Sprints will be proposed to the World Motorsport Council on February 28 in search of approval.
In 2024, Sprints will be run in China, Miami, Austria, the Circuit of the Americas (COTA), Brazil and Qatar.
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