Lewis Hamilton Hesitantly Sides With the FIA in Their Battle With Max Verstappen Over Major F1 Decision

Hesitation increases in relation to risk in equal proportion to age. Lewis Hamilton recently opened up about the rule changes made by FIA as he hesitantly sided with them while still raising his concerns. Max Verstappen has been against that decision since its addition and also recently spoke up about the same. Why did the seven-time world champion side with the FIA and what are his concerns? What is this decision that FIA has made?

Many questions were raised against FIA’s decision to change the Sprint race format. Max Verstappen explained how he doesn’t like the idea of sprint races and would leave F1 if FIA start making a lot of changes to it. However, Lewis Hamilton recently raised a very different kind of concern regarding the sprint race. The tires required at least two laps to warm up completely in Melbourne. Hence, Briton has questioned FIA’s decision to introduce a new sprint format to Baku.

Lewis Hamilton sides with the FIA over the sprint decision and is open to making the race weekend interesting for the fans. However, the 38-year-old is concerned if the drivers will be able to warm up the tires at the Azerbaijan GP in 1 lap. He believes it takes at least 2 laps to get the tires to working temperature. The Briton suggested that it’ll be even more difficult in 2024 as the removal of tire blankets is being proposed.

According to motorsport.nextgen-auto.com, Lewis Hamilton said, “For the format of the Saturday morning qualifier, you have to be careful. I told F1 that in Baku, we were never able to do a qualifying lap because these tires do not work after a lap. It takes at least two. And let’s think about 2024, especially if we don’t have heated blankets, then we will do even more turns. Maybe it will take an hour and not 45 minutes. But I am open to change, to continue to make it more exciting for us and for the fans.”

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Max Verstappen’s claim has been side-stationed as many F1 drivers are in favor of the sprints. Lewis Hamilton’s statement of being open to change is a huge plus for the FIA. On the other side, his teammate has also shown support regarding the sprint race and has said positive things about it.

George Russell’s views on the changes to Sprint Format

Both Mercedes drivers are in favor of the changes made to the sprint format. George Russell admitted to being open to change. The Briton believes that having action every single day of the weekend is superb entertainment for the crowd. And that it’ll spice things up for the drivers as well. He believes that just watching the cars go around during practice isn’t stimulating enough and that sprint will be a welcome change.

According to Gpblog.com, George Russell said “I do think, globally, qualifying and the Grand Prix work very well, but I’m open to change,” “I think having the action on Friday [is a big improvement]. Having action every single day, also for fans in the crowd, [makes it more interesting]. Just watching cars circulating in practice, I don’t think it’s as exciting as when you have a qualifying session like this or a Sprint race. So I think it’s exciting for us, for the teams, and for the fans.”

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What do you think of Lewis Hamilton’s concerns about the sprint in Baku?