F1 News: Austin Sprint Sparks Debate Between Max Verstappen And Lewis Hamilton

There is a contrast in opinion.

Speaking to the media, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton expressed their views about the Sprint race format in a debate of some sort. The former believes that the format takes away the excitement from the Grand Prix weekend while the latter believes it is fun but, with room for improvement. 

Verstappen cruised to victory in the Sprint race after pulling a staggering 9.4-second lead over Hamilton in second. The only time he had to defend his position was at the start of the race into turn 1 from Charles Leclerc's Ferrari. 

Later on, when the Dutchman was asked if he found any enjoyment in the Sprint races this season, he began his answer with a sarcastic statement before revealing his opinion. He said:

“Love it. It’s fantastic. 

"If you want my honest opinion about the sprint weekends, I don't really get excited by it. 

"I just feel like once you complete qualifying, you're a bit lost. I feel like we only need one qualifying in the weekend where you really put everything on the line and it feels great.

"This morning as well, like you put it on P1, but I'm like… sighs… It’s a Saturday and there’s not many points anyway for the race.

"And besides that, like now we've done this race everyone more or less knows what's going to happen tomorrow between all the cars in terms of pace.

"So takes a little bit the excitement away from it. If we wouldn't have done today, and we only had that qualifying yesterday, you don't really know what's going to happen before the race.

"So everyone gets very excited, turning on the TV, because you don't know. And also we didn't know. Now we know, a little bit.” 

Having found the right opportunity, Hamilton, who was also present, butted in saying “It sounds like you are a bit bored.” 

Verstappen responded:

“I’m not bored but if I would be a fan I would just be disappointed because then you know you're more or less know the picture and nothing crazy happens. You know what's going to happen tomorrow. 

"So I find that takes away that magic of waking up on the Sunday morning or Sunday afternoon and you turn on the TV, and you had qualifying, but you're not sure which car is going to be quickest, in most of the years, and it takes that magic away I find.” 

Austin GP Results: Max Verstappen Wins The Sprint Race

The seven-time-world champion, who finished P2 ahead of Leclerc by almost 9 seconds offered a contrasting view. He revealed:

“For us, it's fun. For me, it's fun.

"I like having the extra opportunity to get out there and try to squeeze every little bit and more out of the package that we have. Can it be better? Sure.

"I think it’s been exciting for people so I personally quite like the sprint weekends. Particularly the Friday I really like, where you only have one practice session and then you are straight into quali.”