Max Verstappen has told the owners of Formula One how they should handle criticism from the reigning world champion – by completely ignoring him. The Red Bull driver has just completed a season of near-total dominance, during which he won a record 19 Grand Prix out of 22 and clinched his third consecutive world title with six races to spare.
But despite his outstanding success, the Dutchman has been openly critical of the way that Formula One has been trying to grow in recent seasons, with new rules and competition aspects.
Verstappen is a known opponent of the Sprint race weekends and dislikes the ‘show’ event races that have been incorporated into the existing F1 calendar.
Only last month, he described the Las Vegas Grand Prix as “99% show 1% sporting race” before going on to win one of the most exciting races of the F1 season, even though he said that he felt “like a clown” during the opening ceremony.
Verstappen has hinted that he could walk away from F1 when his current contract expires in 2028, but despite his view on how the sport is developing, he backed F1’s plans to grow even if he wasn’t on board with their ideas.
Speaking to reporters including RacingNews365, he said: “My salary didn’t grow because of the sport growing. I fully understand [F1’s position], and you can look at it two ways: the business side and the sport side.
“Of course, I understand their side as well, but I am just voicing my opinion on the performance side. We are not stakeholders, so I just go with it, and they decide what they do.
“I would do the same if I was the owner, I wouldn’t listen to the drivers, it is my sport and I would do what I want if that was the case, but when I am asked a question, I want to try and answer it in an honest way.”
Six races have been chosen to host Sprint events in the 2024 Formula One season. They are China, Miami, Austria, Austin, Sao Paulo and Qatar.
A plan has been agreed to move sprint qualifying to Friday with the actual sprint race taking place on Saturday before the full race qualifying.
More radical changes, including the possibility of reversing the sprint grid, will be brought under consideration at a meeting of the F1 Commission in January.
