Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen has kicked against the idea of Formula 1 making wholesome changes to race weekend, Afrosport reports.
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has suggested that the sport could opt for shorter races and less practice sessions in a bid to appease younger fans, citing their short attention span which could translate to boredom for longer races and would rather opt to watch sorter race highlights.
F1 introduced sprint races in 2021 which has increased from three to six events on the calendar, and is fine by Verstappen.
The reigning world champion insisted that sport does not necessarily need to be exciting for everyone, pointing out that too much excitement can lead to boredom on the long run.
“Yes, I see the positives. People are making more money,” Verstappen said ahead of this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix in Monza.
“But for me personally, I mean, I’ve talked about it many times. You know my opinion about it. But I also understand why they do it. To also make it a more exciting product on the day.
“Because I can understand, of course, when fans come to the track, it’s more exciting to see cars race than just lap around in practice. For us, it’s still very important to have practice. But I understand from a fan’s point of view that it can be a bit boring.
“But F1 has been like this since the 1950s. So I understand that sports evolve and stuff like that. But we shouldn’t go too crazy. I think a sprint race is already, from my side, crazy enough.
“You all know how I think about sprint races, but the [current] length of the race, I think it’s fine. I mean, yeah, sometimes one and a half hours, sometimes closer to [two].
“In other sports as well, sometimes you have an exciting game, sometimes absolutely boring and you fall asleep. That’s sport for you – you cannot always make it exciting, because if it’s always exciting, it becomes boring too.”
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Verstappen is currently third in the drivers’ championship, 104 points behind current leader and McLaren driver Oscar Piastri.
