F1 Chinese Grand Prix: Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz question wisdom of sprint race on return to Shanghai International track
- The China race will include the first of six sprint rounds this season but only one free practice session to get used to the track
- Both drivers feel the sprint would ‘spice things up’ and be ‘exciting’ for fans but was risky for the drivers and engineers
World champion Max Verstappen has questioned the wisdom of throwing Formula One drivers into a sprint weekend on their return to the Shanghai International Circuit for the first time since 2019 later this month.
Verstappen restored normal service with a dominant pole-to-flag victory at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday, leading teammate Sergio Perez home for yet another Red Bull 1-2.
Next up in two weeks is the return to China, where Formula One has been absent for five years as the country dealt with the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Chinese Grand Prix will include the first of six sprint rounds this season, offering points for the drivers in Saturday’s stand-alone 100km race, but only one free practice session to get used to the track.
“I think it’s not great – let’s say it like that – to do that,” Verstappen told reporters after Sunday’s race at Suzuka.
“Because when you have been away from a track for quite a while, I think you never know what you’re going to experience, right? So it would have been better to have a normal race weekend there.
“Purely from a driving perspective, performance perspective of the sport, I think it’s not the smartest thing to do. But yeah, we’ll see what we get there.”
With Verstappen and Red Bull showing again on Sunday that they are all but untouchable when the car is reliable, the Dutchman did concede that a Shanghai sprint lottery might make things more interesting for fans.
“It probably spices things up a bit more, and that’s maybe what they would like to see,” he added.
“I always loved driving there. So yeah, hopefully we can hit the ground running as well as we can, and hopefully we don’t need to fine-tune too many things on the car.”
Carlos Sainz showed, with third place in Suzuka after a win in Australia two weeks ago, that Ferrari are firmly established at the front of the pack chasing Red Bull.
The Spaniard was also cautious about the sprint element and said the matter had been raised in the drivers’ briefing and with the governing FIA as well as Formula One.
“With these kind of cars, to go to a track with one hour of practice and straight into qualifying, with the regulations that they put on us … and how tricky one bump could make the car, I think it’s not a good choice to put the sprint after four or five years’ absence,” he said.
“Maybe for you guys at home it’s exciting, but for engineers and drivers, it’s something that for me, in my opinion, we shouldn’t take the risk and have a normal weekend.”
Sainz and Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur both suggested that any resurfacing work at the Hermann Tilke-designed circuit outside Shanghai would add another unknown into the equation.
“But it will be the same for everybody,” Vasseur said. “It will be a matter of reactivity and being able to have a good set-up from the beginning.”
