Martin Brundle ‘surprised’ by Max Verstappen quit threat

Horner opens up on Red Bull's 'barren spell' amid Mercedes dominance

Martin Brundle has been left baffled by Max Verstappen’s claims he could quit F1 if bosses alter the rules. The Dutchman suggested he could walk away from the sport if F1 chiefs strayed away from the sport’s DNA.

It comes after teams have been involved in discussions over changes to the race format starting at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. When pushed on whether Verstappen was being serious, Brundle told Sky Sports News: “Ah I’ll be surprised.

“But if he doesn’t want to drive it there will be a million other people who do want to drive that Red Bull. I think what he’s trying to say is don’t mess around too much, Let’s just evolve and message this along. Don’t keep changing the ground rules.

“I get his point on that but I don’t see why that would make him stop.” Verstappen has been a vocal critic of F1’s sprint race concept which started in 2021.

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The number of events will be doubled for 2023 with the first Saturday sprint scheduled to run next time out in Azerbaijan. On Monday, RacingNews365 reported that F1 bosses had agreed on a new format for the weekend with a standalone sprint qualifying.

If agreed by the F1 Commission, this session would run on Saturday morning instead of FP2. It means Friday’s qualifying will set the grid for Sunday’s race instead of the result of the sprint.

Meanwhile, F1 boss Stefano Domenicali has called for the reduction of practice sessions and a boost in competitive action. When quizzed on the changes ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, Verstappen unveiled his threat to F1 chiefs.

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Verstappen told Portugal’s SportTV: “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.”

Brundle has also questioned the idea as he pushed for the current system to remain in place. He added: “I don’t know why we are changing it. I like the format we’ve got.

“Of course, we end up with the qualifying system we’ve got and everything about Formula One because we’ve changed it in the past. That’s the key word, it needs evolving. I don’t know why we are messing around with the sprint concept already if I’m honest.

“Again I don’t see why it needs to be standalone… I don’t understand, the whole purpose of the sprint races was to spice up the actual race day grid a little bit.”

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