Formula 1 boss Stefano Domenicali has responded to harsh criticism from double world champion Max Verstappen. In the past few weeks, he had often commented on the number of sprint weekends in the current season.
“We’re heading towards a season where you eventually have 24, 25 races, because that’s what we’re going to move towards. Then if we start adding more things then it’s not worth it to me anyway. It’s not fun for me.” , explained the Red Bull driver and even publicly flirted with a premature end to his career if the number of races continued to increase.
Domenicali now clearly countered the Dutchman’s statements to the English “Daily Mail”: “I don’t want a society in which people can’t say what they want. But drivers sometimes have to remember that they are part of a bigger one whole. We must not be selfish.”
Domenicali wants to analyze the sprint weekends after the season
“They are part of this sport and this business and it’s growing because we think outside the box. Sometimes it’s not easy to get out of our comfort zone, but we can’t be lazy or complacent,” continued the 58-year-old.
He promised weeks ago that there would not be sprints every weekend. After this season you will “sit down” and calmly analyze the six sprint weekends that have been held.
In addition, he does not believe that Verstappen is serious about his threat of resignation. The 25-year-old loves the sport and was practically born in a car, according to former Ferrari team boss Domenicali.
After the first sprint weekend in Baku at the end of April, sprints in Austria (01.07), Belgium (29.07), Qatar (07.10), the USA (22.10) and in Brazil (04.11) are still on the program.