Max Verstappen’s Annoyance With Sprint Races Could Increase; F1 Looks at Change in Format

Max Verstappen‘s annoyance with Sprint weekends is well-documented. He feels that it detracts from the actual Sunday race and that it happens to be a lucky draw of sorts. It’s not only him though, as many fans criticize the sprint weekends for the same reasons.

Hearing these negative reactions, Formula 1 is changing the sprint weekend format for the third time after it was introduced. While this may be a welcome change, if 2023 was any example, it might just serve to increase Max Verstappen’s annoyance with the format.

F1’s commitment to discuss sprint changes in February

Liberty Media and F1 are taking the criticisms put forth and are attempting to change the sprint weekend format once again. Stefano Domenicali, CEO of Formula One group, recently confirmed that there will be changes made and that the matter will be discussed in February.

“In February we will have a meeting with the teams on this particular topic.” The changes would most likely be to the Parc Ferme rules that lock the car setups after one free practice session during these weekends. “The calendar remains with sprint races. We have a meeting at the beginning of February in which we plan to talk about some operational changes linked to the management of the closed Parc (Ferme) and also a different format.”

He also explained the reasoning behind sticking to six Sprint races, and not reducing it as some would have wanted. “For new fans, they don’t like the concept of dedicating an entire day only to tests.” 

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While the commercial aspect of things is understandable, F1 drivers like Max Verstappen’s criticisms also hold a lot of merit when discussing the sprint weekend format.

Max Verstappen and co’s criticism of the Sprint weekend format

Max Verstappen has been the frontrunner of critics who want to “scrap the whole” concept of sprint races. Firstly, there is the problem of creating two classes of race weekends, one with 26 points on offer, and the other with 34.

More importantly, though, the strict Parc Ferme rules really restrict the time and the freedom allowed for the different teams to run the best setup they can for an entire race weekend. “We should just get rid of the sprint weekend and then everyone can just set up their cars normally,” Verstappen told media. Another time, he comments, “The problem with this beautiful format is that you can’t really change anything on the car. Once you commit to something, you’re stuck with it for the rest of the weekend.”

Talking about the disqualification of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc post the United States Grand Prix, he states “These things only happen when you have a sprint weekend where everything is so rushed into your in-between FP1 and qualifying.” 

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While he’ll be disappointed that sprint weekends won’t be scrapped entirely, at least they might see to it that the strict Parc Ferme rules are a bit relaxed. We will know more only after the meeting in February though.