Max Verstappen Hits out at F1’s ‘Boring’ Format That Makes him fall asleep

Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali recently laid out his ambitions to make shorter F1 races to cater to the up-and-coming younger generation of fans. The modern era is all about short-form content, as many people have complained about the races being too long and boring. Although short races could promise more racing action, a majority of the F1 drivers, including Max Verstappen, aren’t completely on board with the idea.

Max Verstappen has been an ardent critic of Formula 1’s sprint race format, as it took the joy out of winning real races and did not mean much. Still, the recent changes to the format have been received with a positive response from Verstappen. After Stefano Domenicali‘s comments on making F1 races shorter in length, the Dutchman weighed in on the matter and spoke bluntly.

Max Verstappen pointed out that everyone was aware of what he thought about the sprint races in Formula 1. However, the length of the races was ‘fine’ according to him. Verstappen accepted that sometimes the races dragged on for over two hours, as was the case in other sports as well. There were bound to be exciting races at times, with others being boring and putting the 27-year-old to sleep.

No, I mean, you all know how I think about sprint races, but the 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.

Max Verstappen said, as reported by f1i.com

Formula 1 has existed since 1950 and has evolved a lot over the years. As such, Max Verstappen accepted that changes were bound to happen in a sport over time, but this wasn’t the ideal mindset to view it. Verstappen noted that the changes need to be surprising but exciting for the fans and drivers alike. The four-time champion emphasized that the changes can sometimes be surprisingly boring, or even surprisingly exciting, as nothing was certain.

Because then you know that a lot of changes are happening, but that’s also not always how you want to see it. It always needs to be a surprise. Sometimes it can be surprisingly exciting, sometimes it can be surprisingly boring.

Max Verstappen added

Max Verstappen declares sprint format ‘crazy enough’

The sprint race format was introduced in 2021 and was a lot different from what it is today. The main sprint race set the order of the grid back then, and was heavily criticized by many drivers, with Max Verstappen being at the core of it. However, since then, many changes have come up in the format, and it seems to be decent enough now. Still, Verstappen labeled the sprint weekend as a ‘crazy’ idea by the pinnacle of motorsport.