In Brazil, the next stage of the 1 Formula 2022 world championship will take place on the last weekend "sprint” of the season. Interlagos, together with Imola and Austria has been chosen to host the format of the mini-race on Saturday which awards points to the top 8 classified and also establishes the Sunday starting grid. In some respects teams and drivers appreciate this experimental format which, from the first year of application in 2021, populates the racetracks adding action to Fridays. Among the difficulties beyond the logistical ones, having less time available and the calendar already quite demanding, there is also that of seeing a "neutered" race since nobody would like to jeopardize the weekend on Saturday by taking risks and fighting for a handful of points. This is exactly what he complains about twice champion of the world MaxVerstappen, is expressed his disappointment with the sprint format.
For Verstappen the game is not worth the candle
Despite the extraordinary results obtained by Liberty Media there is still some divergence on the subject. After the criticisms from the fans, the riders also expressed their views on the sprint format, which in next year it will cover 6 weekends out of 24. Second Max Verstappen, always very direct in his statements, the sprint would lead teams and riders to a is too conservative, in order not to risk an accident that would jeopardize Sunday's race. In fact, the sense of qualifying on Friday would also be lost, in which the difference is very often made by the rider.
“I don't like this kind of weekend format” – he said Max Verstappen, who won the previous two sprints at Imola and Austria. “I like having just one free practice session and then qualifying straight away, in fact I think it's a good thing from a driver's point of view. The the problem is that every time I do a sprint race the whole time I tell myself 'don't do any damage, make sure you stay among the first", so it's not really a race."
“I think we should have a race with no grid constraints, and I don't understand what the problem is because we have had so many exciting races that there is no need to add a third of the race distance. In sprint races everyone is super attentive because if you're fighting for third place and you have a small contact, you risk finding yourself last at the start of the GP, so it's not worth it and you decide not to risk it. And this is not a race for me.".
Source statements: autosprint
