“It would be a shame to lose it,” Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel vote against dropping Spa from the F1 calendar

“It would be a shame to lose it,” Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel vote against dropping Spa from the F1 calendar

Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel

Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel have raised their voices amidst speculation of dropping Spa from the F1 calendar. The popularity of F1 has been growing ever so quickly in the last few years, which has put the onus on the FIA to expand their reach and take full advantage of the opportunity. The governing body had taken a raft of measures to tap the untapped markets.

One of the steps takes was the launch of the Netflix series, Drive to Survive, which has helped the sport to cater to a different set of audience. This was a successful move as it allowed it to change the perception of F1 as a rich man’s sport and made it fairly popular among the youth, a demographic which had evaded F1 for a really long time. To back this up, FIA also decided to increase the number of races.

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This was done to take F1 to new circuits in addition to the historic ones. We have already seen races in Jeddah and Miami with a race planned to take place in Las Vegas in 2023. But, it has also been decided that F1 cannot have more than 23-24 races in a season. Therefore, there have been rumors of FIA planning to drop the Belgian Grand Prix to explore unchartered territories.

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Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel unhappy with rumors of FIA planning to drop Spa from the calendar

Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen

But this hasn’t gone down well with the F1 drivers especially Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel. Max recently said, “It would be a real shame to lose Spa– said the home star Red Bull – it’s my favorite circuit. For a Formula 1 car it is an incredible circuit, with all the fast corners and the fluidity of the track .”

Sebastian Vettel also gave his opinion: “ Spa is a fantastic circuit. I don’t know any driver who doesn’t like Spa. I know drivers who don’t like the Russian circuit. Not because it’s Russia but because those circuits are all similar.“

“I have no say, but Spa would have my vote. It would be wrong from many points of view to lose it.”

Spa is royalty when think about the rich history of the sport and it would be a shame to lose it. FIA needs to find the right balance between keeping the historic circuits and also continuing to expand the reach.

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