Max Verstappen has suggested that he would walk away from Formula 1 if more sprint races are added to the schedule going forward.
F1 Sprint is a weekend format that was first seen at three races during 2021, before returning for another three in 2022.
However the current campaign, that has been doubled to six Sprint events, the first of which will be at the next round in Baku at the end of April.
Verstappen has been publicly against the format since it was first introduced, but now there are proposals for further changes that would see standalone qualifying events for the Sprint and the main grand prix.
But Verstappen says that he will not stick around in the long-term if F1 continues to make such changes.
“Even if you change the format, I don’t find that is in the DNA of Formula 1 to do these kind of sprint races,” he said.
“I hope there won’t be too many changes, otherwise I won’t be around for too long.”
With the F1 schedule increasing in recent years with additional races, there are fears that the calendar is becoming oversaturated.
Verstappen has suggested that if F1 wishes to have excitement every day, it should scrap Friday sessions and run two-day events.
“I’m not a fan of it at all. But also, I think when we’re going to do all that kind of stuff, the weekend becomes even more intense and we’re already doing so many races,” he said.
“So I think that is not the right way to go at it. I understand, of course, they want to have basically every day exciting.
“But then I think maybe it’s better to just reduce the weekend, only race on Saturday and Sunday and make those two days exciting.
“We’re heading into seasons where you have at one point 24/25 races, because that’s where we’re going to head into, and if we then start adding even more stuff, it’s not worth it for me anyway.
“I’m not enjoying that. And for me, a Sprint race is all about surviving, it’s not about racing.”
F1 last ran a two-day weekend format in 2020 at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Verstappen says that F1 should be concentrating on congesting the field and having more teams fighting at the front rather than focusing on the Sprint events.
“For me, when you have a quick car, there’s nothing to risk. I prefer to just keep my car alive and make sure that you have a good race car for Sunday.
“And even if you change the format, I don’t find it’s the DNA of Formula 1 to do these kinds of Sprint races.
“F1 is about getting the most out of it in qualifying and then having an amazing Sunday, good long race distances.
“That’s the DNA of the sport and I don’t understand or I don’t know why we should change that because I think the action has been good.
“And how do you get even more action is about getting the cars closer, getting more teams able to fight for the win.
“And I think naturally the show will be great. If we have six, seven teams already fighting for a win, that will be insane. Then you really don’t need to change anything.”
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