Max Verstappen claims fans are disappointed with sprint races, says ‘It takes away that magic’ from Sunday’s race 

Max Verstappen won his third sprint race of the season at COTA on Saturday.

Max Verstappen claims fans are disappointed with sprint races, says ‘It takes away that magic’ from Sunday’s race 

Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc (Via IMAGO)

Max Verstappen secured his second consecutive sprint race victory on Saturday at COTA. He started the event on the pole and won with a nine-second gap to Lewis Hamilton at P2. It was his third sprint race win of 2023. but despite the convincing win, the Dutchman wasn’t a happy racer, as he believes the lackluster Saturday events disappoint fans.

Verstappen has commented on the sprint weekend format and admitted it doesn’t ‘excite’ him much. The champion also claimed that the fans get a rough idea of the results of the Sunday race after the sprint result. He sided with the fan’s mindset and claimed that he, too, would be ‘disappointed’ by the early revelation of the Sunday results. The Red Bull driver added that the sprint takes away the fun of ‘waking up and not knowing the result

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O07fNQY_VP4 
If you want my honest opinion about the sprint weekends, I don't really get excited by it. Now that we've done this race, everyone more or less knows what's going to happen tomorrow. If I were a fan, I'd be disappointed. It takes away that magic of waking up on a Sunday morning and you're not sure which car is going to be quickest.
Verstappen said, as reported by Total Motorsports

Red Bull boss Christian Horner shares some strong comments on Sprint Races

The team boss, Christian Horner, felt that something needed to be changed in the format of sprint races to shake things up. Horner explained that FIA needs to add some ‘jeopardy’ in the sprint races. The boss also debated about a ‘reverse the top 10’ or adding good enough points to make the drivers look forward to sprint races.

FS Video
Christian Horner and Sergio Perez (Via IMAGO)
Christian Horner and Sergio Perez (Via IMAGO)

Horner also claimed the sprint victory didn’t feel ‘special’ to the racers. Further, he said that the race wins didn’t mean quite as much as the Grand Prix victory. He added that the concept of sprint races was fine but requested a change in the execution of the sprint races to make them more exciting for the viewers.

Empty seats were visible in the grandstands during the Saturday sprint race. It was obvious from this that fans weren’t as interested in these races as the Sunday GP. COTA boss Bobby Epstein was surprised over this and was ‘surprised’ that despite having a sprint race, this didn’t increase the event’s viewership.

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