F1 boss wants to double sprint races by 2023, Verstappen not a fan

The Grand Prix in Imola on Saturday afternoon had a blistering sprint race, in which Max Verstappen managed to finish it winning. Ross Brawn is still very satisfied with the concept and is thinking of expanding the plans further.

Brawn states among other things Motorsportweek.com that there will be talks on Tuesday to increase the number of sprint races to six. In 2022 there will be three Grand Prix weekends with a sprint race: at Imola, in Austria and in Brazil.

Last year Liberty Media also tried to convince the teams to include more sprint races in the calendar, but it didn't work then. The top teams wanted the budget ceiling to be raised, but the smaller teams did not want to go along with that. So in the end, no agreement was reached.

Brawn is happy with what he saw on Saturday at Imola: "we’re very pleased with the sprint race. Great entertainment, lots of racing going on, plenty of overtaking, we demonstrated the cars could follow. I’m optimistic they’ll all see the value in it. Even the fans. What you should always remember about the sprint is it gives you a great Friday as well. We’ve had three days of action for the fans and we can’t ignore that."

Verstappen disagrees with Brawn

Verstappen already indicated on Friday prior to the weekend that he is not a fan of sprint racing and his victory at Imola has not made him change his opinion. Verstappen told Motorsport.com that he still does not see the added value.

F1 is zeer enthousiast over sprints na Imola. Ik vroeg Verstappen naar z'n mening: "Ik ben er nog steeds geen fan van. Uiteindelijk verandert dit niets, het maakt niet uit of je zo'n gevecht hebt in sprint of race zelf. Hoe het weekend verloopt, vind ik fijner met normaal schema"

— Ronald Vording (@RonaldVording) April 23, 2022