Why Verstappen’s F1 sprint race 'quit threat' isn’t rooted in reality

It had been a great start to race day at the 2023 Australian Grand Prix. The walk from the modest St Kilda hotel had been hot and sunny – the two cooler, blustery Melbourne days just gone sizzled into mere memory.

There was the fallout from the tear up of two Ford Mustangs bursting into shocking fireballs in the Supercars support races to hear about from our correspondent Andrew van Leeuwen ahead of that championship’s third Albert Park race. Plus, the prospect of two Mercedes drivers sending very Max Verstappen-like moves at the world champion at the start of the upcoming grand prix.

All rather glorious.

But when this writer took stock of the overnight Formula 1 news coverage from back home in Europe as we settled down in the Melbourne media centre just as Broc Feeney won the third, rolling started, Supercars race, we got quite a shock.

Verstappen had, apparently, threatened to quit F1 over its proposed changes to the upcoming first 2023 sprint event in Baku. Sorry, what?

Autosport had heard Verstappen’s vociferous objection to too much tinkering to F1’s format after he’d topped qualifying for the Melbourne race ahead of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. It went thusly.

“I'm not a fan of it at all,” Verstappen said after Grand Prix Drivers' Association director Russell had declared sprints “exciting for us, for the teams and for the fans” having initially been unimpressed when they were introduced back in 2021.

“But also,” Verstappen continued, “I think 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.

“I understand, of course, they want to have basically every day exciting, 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 because we're heading into seasons where you have at one point 24/25 races.

Verstappen has voiced his criticisms of F1's sprint races and new format ideas

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

“That's where we're going to head into and if we then start adding even more stuff, it's not worth it for me anyway. I'm not enjoying that.

“And 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.

“And even if you change the format, I don't find it's the DNA of Formula 1 to do these kinds of sprint races. F1 is about getting the most out of it in qualifying and then having an amazing Sunday – good long race distances. That's the DNA of the sport and I don't understand or I don't know why we should change that because I think the action has been good.

“And how do you get even more action is about getting the cars closer, getting more teams able to fight for the win. And I think [then] naturally the show will be great. If we have six, seven teams already fighting for a win, that will be insane. Then you really don't need to change anything.”

Very well put. An impassioned defence of F1’s long heritage is something Autosport can very much get onboard with.

The 2028 season represents an interesting point to ponder Verstappen’s future. Red Bull’s current position will be challenged massively by the 2026 engine changes and likely active aerodynamics requirements

But in this case, surely Verstappen would accept replacing the currently wasted sprint weekend FP2 session with a dedicated sprint qualifying – one shot or not, as proposed for Baku – given that would actually protect the existing spectacle of qualifying setting the GP grid and the main event being exactly that contest. F1 would also get its desire of competition on all three days in such a move.

Everyone seemingly wins in that scenario – other than the impact of sprint races on teams’ cost caps, a topic for another column. Particularly if F1 went down the MotoGP route of having sprint races at every round.

So, where was the Verstappen quit threat many motorsport media outfits, as well as several gigantic traditional press outfits, had led on? Seemingly, some had conflated Verstappen’s excellent post-qualifying rant with another line he’d given to Portuguese F1 broadcaster Sport TV.

Ahead of the sessions that mattered in Melbourne, Verstappen had said of sprint races to Sport TV: “I'm happy with just the main race. I think that's way better for the excitement. I naturally, of course, hope that there won't be too many changes – otherwise I won't be around for too long.”

Verstappen's F1 quit claims were misunderstood - even if he says he doesn't plan on staying on into his 40s like Alonso

Photo by: Motorsport Images

This was a quip – a throwaway comment delivered with a smile. Yet, in the current climate of rushed, often hashed, click-chasing from many media sites, it suddenly took on an entirely different existence.

This must be balanced by the fact Verstappen did utter those words. And his comments on any topic carry weight given his position as F1’s current dominator. Although he plays down his power within Red Bull and F1 overall, Verstappen knows he has it as is willing to wield it – as proved by his Sky Sports boycott in Mexico last year.

But, is there any reality to consider once we move past the manner in which he delivered his apparent ‘threat’ or ‘warning’?

Well, for an overwhelming start, Verstappen is contracted to Red Bull until 2028 on a deal reportedly worth $40m-a-year. Add to that, he’s started down the path to a third straight world title with the RB19’s current untouchable position. This, although imperilled by Red Bull’s current design restrictions following its cost cap penalty, surely doesn’t look like being lost before 2026.

That’s a realistic, if pessimistic, assessment. But it’s based on just how seriously good that car is in all areas (qualifying speed, race tyre wear, top speed, kerb riding, bump jumping, low and high speed turns) – even on a weekend where Red Bull was closer to its rivals in Australia.

And, let’s not forget, Red Bull’s opposition has got things wrong so far in the new ground-effect era and may simply never catch up given Red Bull will carry on making progress over the two remaining seasons of this rules cycle. There is more riding on Mercedes, Ferrari and co recovering to run Red Bull closer, as Aston Martin has somewhat done, to keep things interesting in the coming campaigns.

Yes, contracts can be broken, but when considering that as short-term option for Verstappen ‘quitting’ that is actually rather a long-term thing. He isn’t going anywhere on his current deal. More realistic than Verstappen sensationally quitting F1 in the coming years, by 2026 he could be a five-time world champion.

The 2028 season does represent an interesting point to ponder on Verstappen’s future. Red Bull’s current position will be challenged massively by the 2026 engine changes and likely active aerodynamics requirements.

With Red Bull likely to have a dominant package for a few years, Verstappen has little reason to look elsewhere

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

So, perhaps, that would be the point when Verstappen decides he’d prefer to take on a Le Mans challenge a la Fernando Alonso – if, and it’s a big one, Red Bull has been knocked back to also-ran status.

Putting another assumption into the mix, if sprint races are even more regular by then, allied with the upcoming design rule changes, maybe that’d be the DNA-change tipping point for Verstappen.

Yet even if he did leave the championship at such a point, there’s no guarantee his exit would stick. He’d only be 31 – plenty of time to dominate other categories and then return to the alluring, lucrative world of grand prix racing (yes, we’re assuming that stays as such even if the Drive to Survive bubble has burst by then) as a legendary multi-champion.

In reality, he gave an honest response on a topic he’s clearly thought about – Verstappen’s objections to sprint races are not new

Perhaps a return wouldn’t be for very long given Verstappen has suggested he currently isn’t considering an Alonso-like pursuit of F1 glory into his 40s. But, based on his consistent sim racing exploits between F1 events, we know he just loves driving…

As you can tell, we’re doing a lot of heavy lifting speculating on many futures. That’s what opinion columns are for. But going back to Verstappen’s ‘quit threat’ – those reports did exactly this and presented the Dutchman’s musings as flat out to F1 fans.

In reality, he gave an honest response on a topic he’s clearly thought about – Verstappen’s objections to sprint races are not new.

Ultimately, he’s just not walking away any time soon. If he ever does.

The two-time world champion won't be walking away from F1 in the near future

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images