Max Verstappen is not in favor of F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali’s plans to shorten the length of Grand Prix races. According to the reigning world champion, the variation between exciting and less thrilling races is part of the sport.
“The length of the race is just fine,” Verstappen asserts during Red Bull’s media session in Monza. “This is the case in other sports as well: sometimes you’re on the edge of your seat, sometimes you’re almost falling asleep. That’s sport. You can’t try to make all races exciting, because then it ultimately becomes boring. It should be a surprise. Sometimes surprisingly exciting, sometimes surprisingly dull.”
The Dutchman describes himself as a ‘traditionally minded’ driver. For him, the key is not in shorter races, but in bringing the teams closer together. “Then you get more action,” he explains. “If you disregard McLaren this year, isn’t it all not so bad? The problem is mainly that we can’t drive so close together with these cars. As a result, you sometimes get stuck in a DRS train.”
Verstappen is also not in favor of adding more sprint races to the calendar. “They want this because they can make more money with it,” he says with a smile. “But I understand, because for the fans it’s more fun to see cars racing than just driving around during a practice session. But for us, those training sessions are important and Formula 1 has been like this since the 1950s. Sports evolve, I understand that, but let’s not go overboard. In my view, a sprint race is already crazy enough.”
