Max Verstappen
is 25 years old and has a contract with
Red Bull
until 2028. In addition, he is the reigning two-time
Formula 1
champion and the great candidate to win this year as well, despite the fact that only three grand prix were run.
The Dutchman, however, does not imagine himself as a long-lived driver in the category.
Even less if the changes of Liberty Media advance, which two years ago incorporated the
Sprint Races
.
"I'm not a fan of that, not at all
," he remarked ahead of the first of six sprint races this season.
In statements made after the Australian GP in Melbourne and published in the last few hours by the German media Autosport, Verstappen confessed:
"I'm not enjoying that
. "
And he went further:
"Even if you change the format,
I don't think it's in the DNA of Formula 1 to do this kind of Sprint Races
.
"
Verstappen celebrates winning the Austrian Sprint Race last year.
Photo REUTERS/Christian Bruna
"
F1 is about getting the most out of qualifying and then having a great Sunday
, in good long-distance racing. That's the DNA of the sport and I don't or don't understand why we should change that, because I think the action It has been good"
, he explained.
For Verstappen,
"getting even more action is getting the cars closer together, getting more teams fighting for victory
. "
"And I think naturally the show will be great.
If we have six or seven teams already fighting for the win, that will be crazy. Then you won't need to change anything
, "
he analyzed.
Although he understands that the incorporation of the Sprint Race was a strategy by Liberty Media so that there is action during the three days of the race weekend (the classification is done on Friday and the short race on Saturday sets the starting order on Sunday) , the double champion considered:
"I think that when we do that kind of thing,
the weekend becomes even more intense
and we are already running too many races
. "
"I think it's not the right way to go about it. I understand, obviously, that they want every day to be exciting, but I think maybe it's better to cut down on the weekend, just race on Saturdays
and Sundays
and make those two days are exciting"
, explained the top entertainer of F1.
And,
although he is the maximum winner of Sprint Races with three victories
(Silverstone in 2021 and Imola and Austria in 2022), he stressed:
"Because we are heading to seasons in which you have 24, 25 races at a time -because that is where come on—and if we then start adding even more stuff,
it's not worth it to me anyway
.
"
Speaking to Sport TV de Portugal, meanwhile, Verstappen was blunt:
"Of course, I hope there won't be too many changes, otherwise I won't,
I won't be here for a long time
.
"
Mad Max, who has been racing in the most important category in the world since he was 17 years old, is the season leader with 69 points and an advantage of 15 over his teammate, the Mexican Sergio Checo Pérez, after winning two of the three
races
. disputed (Bahrain and Australia).
The fourth date will be held in the street of Baku, in Azerbaijan, where the action will begin on April 28,
will continue on Saturday the 29th with the first Sprint Race of 2023
and will be defined on Sunday the 30th.
A meteoric rise in F1
The young Max Verstappen from 2015, his first season in F1.
Photo EFE/EPA/DIEGO AZUBEL
Max Verstappen did not enter Formula 1 because he is the son of Jos Verstappen.
In his meteoric rise,
after the 2013 world karting title and just one season in European F3 in 2014
, the enthusiasm shown by Dieter Mateschitz, the largest shareholder of the Red Bull energy drink brand, and the praise of Helmut Marko were key. , the director of the Young Pilot Development Program in which he has been since 2013, who
considered him
"a pilot of those who appear one every ten years"
.
This is how at 16, in August 2014, Verstappen was confirmed to replace Eric Vergne at Toro Rosso the following season and
one day before his 17th birthday, he received the super license to race in Formula 1 as a gift
.
A few days later, he got into a car for the first time for the initial practice of the Japanese Grand Prix.
"My dad already told me that Suzuka is a very difficult circuit and that's why I don't go with the idea of breaking records but with the intention of experiencing new sensations"
, he said then.
On March 15, 2015,
at the age of 17, 5 months and 15 days
,
The Dutchman broke the mark that the Spanish Jaime Alguersuari had treasured since 2009 at the age of 19 years, 4 months and 3 days and became the youngest rookie in F1.
In the following Grand Prix, in Malaysia,
he managed to be the youngest to score, finishing seventh at 17 years, 5 months and 27 days
.
Far from the performance of an average
rookie
, Verstappen closed his first season with 49 points and was twice on the verge of the podium (4th in Hungary and the United States).
The following year, after four races, Red Bull promoted him to the first team
- relegating Russian Daniil Kvyat to Toro Rosso - and he responded with his first win and a new all-time record.
On May 15, 2016, in a Spanish GP marked by the crash between Hamilton and Nico Rosberg that left the two Mercedes out of competition, the Dutchman registered his name as the youngest driver to win an F1 race, at
18 years, 7 months and 15 days, just 24 races after debut
.
“Do you realize that I ran against your father?”
, joked Kimi Raikkonen, who escorted him with his Ferrari at the time.
The podium was completed by Sebastian Vettel, who had won the 2008 Italian Grand Prix at the age of 21, 2 months and 11 days, and at that time had surpassed the Spanish Fernando Alonso, who won the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix with 22 years and 26 days.
“It feels amazing. I can't believe it, it was a super race. I must thank the team for giving me such a good car and my father, who helped me from a very young age to achieve this"
, said that young Verstappen, who was then breaking with the hegemony that Mercedes had imposed with Rosberg, winner of the first four races of the season and the last three of the previous one.
The question now was whether he could also with Hamilton.
Without a doubt, it was the season in which he was closest to achieving it.
In 2017, many speculated that he would also be the youngest champion in history
, but without Rosberg, Vettel gave Hamilton the fight with Ferrari, just like in 2018, when the Englishman managed to take an advantage much earlier to match Fangio in winning his fifth title.
World champion for the first time, in the exciting dispute with Hamilton in 2021. Photo AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili
The first championship came to him at
24 years, two months and 12 days
, in that remembered 2021 Abu Dhabi GP. Verstappen only had an advantage on Saturday, when he took pole position.
But in the race, Hamilton started better and led the race without problems until an unusual crash by Nicholas Latifi allowed the safety car to enter and that last lap in which the Dutchman defined the title in his favor - the first for a driver
from the Netherlands
- and prevented the Englishman from taking the unprecedented eighth title.
Last year the story was a more fruitful and overwhelming one.
In Japan, the land where eight years and six days ago he had made his debut, when testing the Toro Rosso in practice 1 that the Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne was going to leave him at the end of the season, the 25-year-old, despite At some point of confusion, he secured his second title
four rounds from the end
, as happened to the Germans Michael Schumacher (in 2001 and 2004) and Sebastian Vettel (2011), although he could have achieved it much earlier.
look also
What was the "Crash Gate", the Formula 1 scandal that 15 years later threatens to take a title from Hamilton
Formula 1: a historic pilot believes that Checo Pérez is going to make Red Bull explode
