Andretti understands Verstappen: 'Nothing wrong with what he says'

1978 F1 champion Mario Andretti understands Max Verstappen's dissatisfaction with Formula 1's spectacle-focused experiments. Indeed, the American also prefers not to see a modified sprint format. According to Andretti, Verstappen is within his rights to have his say on that.

Domenicali spoke to Verstappen

For Verstappen, Formula 1 no longer needs to continue with experiments to make F1 just more spectacular. The Red Bull Racing driver more or less said this after it was announced that there would be an extra qualifying session for the Azerbaijan GP before the sprint race. Recently, these statements returned to the news.

Indeed, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said in an interview that he had spoken to the two-time F1 champion about his plans to leave F1 should things go the wrong way. Andretti sees no problem with Verstappen's comments, the American agreeing with the Dutchman on substance.

'Verstappen is within his rights'

Speaking to PlanetF1.com, Andretti says: "Well, I think he has the right to express himself. As far as these qualifying Sprints, they do leave something to be desired for some people. Other people, I suppose, like it. If I was a driver, I would say the qualifying format as we know it is fantastic. I don’t think you need to hype that up anymore."

For Andretti, a sprint race detracts from the race weekend. The former F1 champion sees the GP weekend as a build-up to the start of the big race and an extra race start of a sprint race he does not think is necessary. In addition, Andretti also sees problems in the approach of drivers and teams during sprint races. Those don't go to extremes for fear of damaging the cars and missing the big race.

Andretti: "Max just wants to express what he feels about it, and there’s nothing wrong with that." Andretti prefers to see the traditional GP weekend unchanged: "300%! That’s my feeling."