Verstappen repeats criticism of sprint weekend: 'Scrap the whole thing'

Max Verstappen has reiterated that he is not a fan of the new format surrounding the sprint race. In the post-sprint race press conference in Baku, the world champion doubled down on his criticism and advocated abandoning the whole idea.

From the outset, Verstappen has not been a fan of the new sprint weekend format. However, anyone who thought Verstappen would change his mind after actually experiencing the new format is in for a rude awakening. The Dutchman has only become more adamant in his belief that this is the wrong approach.

"It's not proper racing, it’s more like gambling," Verstappen argued. "I think I will have more success in Vegas if I go to the casino. I like racing, I'm a pure racer, and I think this is more for the show. Of course, it's important to have entertainment, but I think if all the cars are closer you’d create better entertainment anyway than trying to do it like this. It feels like, you’re like a football match and it's 3-0 up for one team and then suddenly you just say, ‘Oh let's reset it to 0-0 and go again’. I find that a bit unnecessary, these kinds of things."

Verstappen wants to go back to old format

"Just scrap the whole thing," continued Verstappen when asked if there is anything he would keep. "It's important to go back to what we have, and make sure that every team can fight for a win, that's what we have to try and aim for and not try to implement all this kind of artificial excitement. I would say I got bored through today's qualifying, to be honest. I like to have one particular qualifying, where you just put everything in it, and that was yesterday, which I of course enjoy, and then they have to do it again today. I'm like, ‘My God, another qualifying?’ I just don't really enjoy that."