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Verstappen particularly cynical about sprint racing: "Love it, fantastic"
Max Verstappen has once again commented negatively on sprint racing after the fifth sprint race of the season - at the Circuit of the Americas. The Red Bull Racing driver was again critical, was not enjoying himself and states that he does not see the added value of it. According to him, not only does too little happen on the track, but it also takes away the excitement for Sunday's Grand Prix.
In the press conference, Verstappen was asked if he had a bit of fun in the 19-lap race. The answer is as cynical as it is telling: "Love it. It's fantastic!" Then, the three-time world champion gives his honest opinion. "I don't really get excited by it. In qualifying, I just feel like once you complete qualifying, you're a bit lost. I feel like we only need one qualifying in the weekend where you really put everything on the line, and it feels great."
He continued: "This morning [Saturday], I put it on P1, but I'm like ‘it's a Saturday, there’s not many points anyway for the race,’ and besides that…now we've done this race, everyone more or less knows what's going to happen tomorrow [Sunday] between all the cars, in terms of pace. It takes the excitement away from it a bit. If we didn’t do today and we only had that qualifying that we had yesterday [Friday], you don't really know what's going to happen before the race and everyone is very excited turning on the TV because you don't know, know we know a little bit," Verstappen explained.
'Sprint race takes away magic'
Hamilton infers from Verstappen's words that he is a bit bored. Verstappen: "I’m not bored, but if I were a fan, I would just be disappointed because then you more or less know about the picture. If nothing crazy happens, you know what's going to happen tomorrow so I find that a bit… it takes away that magic of waking up on a Sunday morning or whatever, Sunday afternoon, and you turn on the TV, and you’ve had qualifying but you're not sure which car is going to be quickest."
The 26-year-old Dutchman has repeatedly made it known that sprint races are not a necessity for him. It is one of the examples - along with, for example, the ever-lengthening calendar - why Verstappen does not rule out hanging up his F1 helmet after 2028.