Max Verstappen is likely to clinch his third world title in Saturday’s Sprint Race in Qatar, but the reigning champion is still not a fan of the format.
Formula 1 is returning to Qatar’s Lusail International Circuit after a one-year absence—during which the small state’s resources were focused on holding the soccer World Cup—to mark the start of a lucrative 10-year deal.
The layout of the Lusail circuit has not been altered but the track has been resurfaced, the curbs modified, and the entirety of the pits/paddock complex has been completely rebuilt since Formula 1’s sole visit in 2021, giving it the aura of a new venue.
Qatar has been chosen as one of Formula 1’s six Sprint events in 2023 and Verstappen stands on the brink of sealing his third world championship.
Verstappen must avoid being out-scored by teammate Sergio Perez by six points in Saturday’s short encounter to ensure that the title will be in his pocket before Sunday’s race even takes place. The top-eight finishers are awarded points on an 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
“We’re having of course an amazing year, and we just come into this weekend and we want to win again,” said Verstappen. “Of course I know that if I win or whatever, achieve on Saturday, then you win the championship. But I think we’re very focused on the main job anyway, just to have a good weekend.”
The format of Sprint means drivers only have Friday’s one-hour session before setup is locked in for qualifying, the Sprint Shootout qualifying session, the Sprint Race and the Qatar Grand Prix. It is the first time that Sprint has taken place at a night race since the format was introduced in Formula 1 in 2021. That means the sole practice session, as well as Saturday’s Sprint Shootout, will take place in vastly different daytime conditions.
“It’s very warm, and then throughout the night, it cools down a bit,” said Verstappen.
“Whatever you do in FP1, it’s still not clear for qualifying. So it makes it a lot harder and a bit of a gamble and guessing as well to make the right call, which for me is a bit of a shame, because I think on this track, it would be amazing to have an FP1 and FP2 to set up the car nicely, and then be fully comfortable going into qualifying for everyone to really get the best out of it. That’s how it is. They chose to do it here. I prefer just the normal racing format. I think (the normal format) just a bit more exciting.
“Especially in qualifying you can go a bit more to the limit because you know what you have done in practice, like for example in Suzuka, if you do FP1 there and go straight into qualifying, you risk also to have bigger shunts. It’s not as fulfilling.”
Verstappen also feels that having a short race on Saturday merely spoils the anticipation for Sunday’s main event.
“And I always keep saying, once we do a sprint race, you will get the big picture anyway for the main race so you know more or less already, ‘ah this car is going to be really good in the race, this one is going to drop back’,” he said. “So, it takes away a little bit of the excitement away, I remember from when I was a fan, just the outside of the F1 world, you don’t know which car is particularly amazing in the long run, or have they nailed the race setup. You watch qualifying and go, oh wow, okay.
“It might be that one car is in front and they drop back in the race. It’s all unclear. Then you wake up for the Sunday race, and you all see it unfold. But because of the sprint race, it takes that already a bit away. You’re like, if nothing happens and he doesn’t crash, they’re going to win the race, that team or whatever.”
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