Toto Wolff brands three-time world champion Max Verstappen as an F1 ‘purist’

Max Verstappen is one of the most well-known names in Formula 1.

Toto Wolff brands three-time world champion Max Verstappen as an F1 ‘purist’

Toto Wolff [L] and Max Verstappen [R] (images via IMAGO)

Max Verstappen has been making his trade in F1 since 2015. He has honed his skills year after year and today, he has become one of the best to have ever stepped foot into the sport. However, the changes that have come into F1 recently have not sat well with him.

Max Verstappen is not a huge supporter of the sprint shootouts and sprint races. He has made this known every now and then, and while the sport is currently at a halt, Mercedes boss, Toto Wolff has agreed with him.

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While talking about new changes and Verstappen’s opinion, with the La Gazzetta dello Sport, Wolff said; (H/T: Silverarrows.net)

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The way I see it, Max is a purist and thinks about Formula 1 in much the same way as I do. We think Friday and Saturday are about preparation and qualifying, and then on Sunday, you have the main course, where you look forward to the start.

Looking at the reaction of the Austrian, he has made it quite clear that he and Verstappen are old school. Especially when it comes to tinkering with the format that has been in operation for a long time. They firmly believe that things have worked just fine without the Sprint and the Sprint shootout and thus, would prefer the sport to go back to its old way of doing things.

Max Verstappen has doubled down on Sprint weekends on many occasions

While Toto Wolff has made it known that Max Verstappen is a purist when it comes to F1, the latter, as mentioned above, has several times in the past spoken against the Sprint format. Verstappen feels there is no need to move away from the old race weekend format ( 3 practice sessions, qualifying, and the main race).

Max Verstappen (via IMAGO)
Max Verstappen (Via: IMAGO)

The 26-year-old is one of the most prominent names in the sport and he desperately wants the hierarchy to look into its way of doing things. However, despite his displeasure with the Sprint format, Stefano Domenicali and Co. are hell-bent on trying new things.

When it comes to the fans, the Sprint format has so far received mixed reactions. Some are pleased to see the new race-weekend structure, whereas, many are with Verstappen and want F1 to do things the old way.

Keeping everything in view, it is going to be fascinating to see how the sport will develop in the upcoming years. There is a possibility that F1 could see even more changes in its race weekend format quite soon.

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