F1

Formula one world champion and current Drivers Championship leader Max Verstappen has incredibly threatened to walk away from the sport shortly after putting his Red Bull car on pole for the Australian Grand Prix.

Verstappen, who is the back-to-back champion of the sport, has raised concerns over his long-term future in the hot seat despite his on-track dominance continuing in the beginning of the 2023 season.

The Dutchman claimed Red Bull’s third consecutive pole position of the season after a tough qualifying session that saw teammate Sergio Perez crash out in Q3, leaving the Mexican at the back of the grid for tomorrow’s race.

READ MORE: Bird tries ‘sabotaging’ Max Verstappen by strolling across Australian GP track

Amid potential changes pushed by current Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, the increased introduction of the new sprint race format could replace practice events that bode no points on offer for drivers or teams.

The sprint format introduced sees a half-hour mini race that will decide the grid order for the Grand Prix, with the sprint’s starting order decided by qualifying which replaces an extra practice session.

Talking about the possible changes, Verstappen said : “I hope there won’t be too many changes, otherwise I won’t be around for too long.

“I am not a fan of it at all. When we do all that kind of stuff, the weekend becomes very intense and we already do a lot of races. But it is not the right way to go about it.

“I understand they want to make every day at the track exciting but they should reduce the weekend, and only race on Saturday and Sunday and make those two days exciting.

Do you think sprint races are a good idea? Let us know in the comments section below

“We are heading into seasons where we could have 24 or 25 races and if you then start adding more it is not worth it for me. I will not enjoy that.”

The Dutchman starts on pole position at Albert Park alongside Mercedes driver George Russell who also qualified on the front row, whilst Red Bull teammate Perez starts from the back.

READ NEXT:

• Daniel Ricciardo unveils new helmet for Australian GP – even though he’s not racing

• Race director who cost Lewis Hamilton title in paddock for first time since controversy

• ‘I wanted to see Michael Schumacher after his accident – but his wife refused’

Max Verstappen has repeated his warning to Formula 1 that expanding its sprint race format may drive him out of the sport.

The Red Bull driver said yesterday he “won’t be around for too long” if F1 continues to add more sprint races and other competitive sessions to race weekends. The series is considering a change to the format when it holds its first sprint race of the season in Baku at the end of the month.

F1 has increased the number of sprint races this year from three to six, as part of its longest ever 23-round calendar. Verstappen says he is “not a fan of it at all.”

“When we’re going to do all that kind of stuff, the weekend becomes even more intense, and we’re already doing so many races. So I think that is not the right way to go at it.”

His comments put him at odds with F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, who has repeatedly called for the series to have fewer practice sessions compared to competitive running. Verstappen says they are going about it the wrong way.

“I understand, of course, they want to have like basically every day exciting,” he said. “But then I think maybe it’s better to just reduce the weekend, only race on Saturday and Sunday and make those two days exciting.”

Verstappen repeated his warning that the more F1 experiments with the race weekend format, the less he enjoys competing in the series. “We’re heading into seasons where you have at one point 24, 25 races because that’s where we’re going to head into.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

“And if we start adding even more stuff, it’s not worth it for me anyway. I’m not enjoying that.”

While F1 has talked up the entertainment value of sprint races, Verstappen doesn’t agree they add to the spectacle. “For me a sprint race is all about surviving. It’s not about racing.

“For me, when you have a quick car, there’s nothing to risk. I prefer to just keep my car alive and make sure that you have a good race car for Sunday.”

F1 has already revised the sprint race format since it was introduced in 2021 and is considering further changes. But Verstappen does not believe more tweaks are what’s needed.

“Even if you change the format, I just do not find it is the DNA of Formula 1 to do these kind of sprint races.

“F1 is about getting the most out of it in qualifying and then have an amazing Sunday, a good long race distance. That’s the DNA of the sport and I don’t understand or I don’t know why we should change that.”

He urged the series to concentrate on improving the quality of competition between the teams instead of changing the format of its events.

“I think the action has been good and how you get even more action is about getting the cars closer, getting more teams able to fight for the win,” he said. “I think naturally the show will be great if we have six, seven teams already fighting for a win, that would be insane, and you really don’t need to change anything.”

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2023 Australian Grand Prix

• Verstappen repeats his warning more sprint races will make F1 ‘not worth it for me’
• The slowest car of the first two races beat three rivals in Melbourne
• Norris says he needs to drive the McLaren at “95%” after missing Q3 again
• Why Leclerc thanked Sainz for a tow he didn’t get after Ferrari radio mix-up
• ‘I can’t brake at turn one’: Inside the nightmare Saturday which left Perez last

Browse all 2023 Australian Grand Prix articles

Lewis Hamilton said his brief return to the top of the timing screens during today’s qualifying session felt strange.

The Mercedes driver headed the times during Q3 but was quickly deposed by Max Verstappen .

“Honestly, that felt like a great lap,” said Hamilton. “And it was very, very surreal to see us at the top for a second. Then obviously I saw Max was finishing his lap, so just about lost it.”

The Red Bull driver went on to take pole position while Hamilton claimed third on the grid behind team mate George Russell. Hamilton said he wasn’t able to get the best out of his tyres on his final run.

“The last lap just wasn’t really that great, unfortunately,” he said. “I left plenty of performance on the table just in the sense of I couldn’t get the tyres really working.

“So the second lap was a bit average but I still managed to get it up there for the team and tomorrow I’ll do better.”

Hamilton was unable to prepare for his final lap as he wanted to as he encountered Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas in the final sector. “It definitely was a little bit confusing and definitely wasn’t an optimum way of starting your lap,” he said.

“Normally you need to try and keep pace up in that last sector, but there was a lot going on so it wasn’t as good as the start of the previous lap.”

Having to slow down behind Hulkenberg did compromise his final lap, said Hamilton. “I think we did lack a little bit of temperature, it picked up towards the end of the lap and my last sector I think was a little bit better. But that’s how it goes sometimes.”

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2023 Australian Grand Prix

• Verstappen repeats his warning more sprint races will make F1 ‘not worth it for me’
• The slowest car of the first two races beat three rivals in Melbourne
• Norris says he needs to drive the McLaren at “95%” after missing Q3 again
• Why Leclerc thanked Sainz for a tow he didn’t get after Ferrari radio mix-up
• ‘I can’t brake at turn one’: Inside the nightmare Saturday which left Perez last

Browse all 2023 Australian Grand Prix articles

After George Russell and Lewis Hamilton grabbed second and third on the grid for the Australian Grand Prix, both drivers said the result was far beyond expectations after its difficult start to the season.

But Alonso, who has qualified fourth in Melbourne, sees things very differently and believes that Mercedes has a much better package in the W14 than it has been making out.

Asked whether he was surprised to see Mercedes beat him in taking the fight to pole position man Max Verstappen , the Spaniard said: “No, in Jeddah I think they were within one tenth of the pace on Sunday to us and here they were P2 yesterday with Lewis in FP1.

“If you read their comments, for sure it seems they have a car that is out of Q3. But I don’t think it’s that bad.

“It’s not as good as Red Bull – no one has a car close to Red Bull – but they’re getting better and they will be a contender for wins soon. They did it last year and they won a race after a very bad start, so I think this year they’re showing the potential they have.”

Alonso is not the only one to say that Mercedes is stronger in reality than the team has been portraying in public.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz told Sky : “I think that they are a lot faster than what the people think. I think especially also in the race, they had a pace very close to Fernando in Jeddah. George and Lewis, they were flat out and we couldn’t keep up with them.

George Russell, Mercedes F1 W14, leaves the pit lane

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

“So that car is quick. It is clearly not as quick as the Red Bull is, no one is, but if they put qualifying together, they can actually be a very strong package too.”

Alonso said that he hoped Mercedes could jump Verstappen at the start of the race on Sunday to prevent the grand prix being too boring.

“I think there are many unknowns into the race, after missing FP2 [running],” said the Aston Martin driver. “And also the temperature, I think it’s going to be very different tomorrow, and it is at least supposed to be sunny.

“I think in terms of strategy and race preparation, I think no one is fully ready yet, so I think tomorrow is a race that we will discover who has better pace and better management and things like that.

“Let’s see, at least, if the Mercedes they can make a good start and stop Max somehow. If not, there’s going to be a boring race for him.”

Additional reporting by Filip Cleeren