After a few years of absence, the Chinese GP is back on the calendar and the riders are immediately presented with a race weekend with a sprint race. According to Max Verstappen, that is not a good idea, although he understands why Formula 1 made that choice.
It is common knowledge that Max Verstappen is not a fan of sprint races, the three-time world champion would like to see the entire format disappear altogether. In China, however, the drivers are presented with a race weekend with a sprint race and that choice is remarkable to say the least.
China was not on the calendar for years, so the teams have no recent data about it. Moreover, a completely new generation of F1 cars is now being driven. That will make it very difficult and especially tricky for the teams because in a race weekend with a sprint format there is only one practice session on Friday before we immediately get the sprint qualification.
According to Max Verstappen, the idea is to make it a little more difficult for the teams and drivers in the hope of creating more of a spectacle. After all, the chance that a team will make a mistake or experience problems during the adjustment is high.
It is very smart to do that. I don’t think it’s great, let me put it this way, to do that, says Verstappen, who then explains why it will be so tricky.
When you haven’t been to a track for a long time, you don’t know what to expect, you never know what you will experience, right? It would have been better to have a normal race weekend here.
It will probably give us a bit more of a spectacle and that’s what they want to see. But purely from the rider’s perspective, the sport’s perspective, this is not the smartest thing to do.
Teammate Sergio Perez also agreed with Max Verstappen: I think it will probably be good for the show and the spectacle. But this is going to be a really tough race for preparation.
So it looks like the F1 fans who will have to get up early to see the sprint race and the race will be rewarded.