Toto Wolff has backed up Max Verstappen’s opposition to the sprint race format that F1 is currently experimenting with, claiming that if he was in charge of the sport then he would abolish the concept altogether.

Sprint races are currently a contentious topic within the F1 paddock. The sport has recently experienced a flurry of sprint weekends with the latest coming in both Qatar and Texas, and another coming up during the final leg of the ongoing triple-header at Interlagos next time around. 

The event in Texas caused particular frustrations for the teams and drivers with the single free practice session leading to both Haas and Aston Martin to start both of their drivers from the pit lane during Sunday’s Grand Prix after suboptimal setup choices in Saturday’s sprint.

Discussing his opposition to the sprint races ahead of the Mexican GP, Verstappen said: “There’s no satisfaction to win a sprint for me. You cross the line and say – All right, well, tomorrow is the race, the main one. That’s how it goes.

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“I always say, why do we need to try and invent something? I think our product works if you just make sure that the cars are competitive and they will stay the same for a long time. In football, they don’t change the rules – or for other sports. It’s been like that for 100 years.

“Why do we suddenly need to come up with other things to try and make it entertaining? I think if you have a good race on your hands with cars being close to each other, then you don’t need a sprint format or weekend.”

Verstappen’s opposition was backed up by Wolff on Friday. The Mercedes boss told Sky Sports F1: “You know you’ve got to support Stefano [Domenicali] in all the decisions that are good for the business.

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“I’m more conservative. I don’t like the sprint weekends. I think it’s a weird schedule. You’re taking a lot of suspense away from the Sunday – you see how the ranking is going to fall into place. I’d rather not have them overall.

Mercedes’ team principal also suggested that the sprint format was partially to blame for Lewis Hamilton’s disqualification from the United States GP. He was frustrated with the restrictions sprint weekends place on the car set-ups, stating: “The problem with the Sprint Races is your car goes into parc ferme and you can’t adjust it anymore.”

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