It’s not unheard of for Formula 1 drivers to be at loggerheads with each other. These rivalries are what add to the flavor of the sport that we all love. One such rivalry that has been doing the rounds is that between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. The history between the two has been tense. But apart from racing, it has also been through an apparent ideological difference. That being said, unable to trade blows directly on the track, the duo seems to have started a different kind of war.

This is essentially a war of words. In the past, Verstappen has been a staunch detractor of the new ‘Sprint Race’ concept introduced by F1. Now, in light of changes being proposed to tweak the event, Hamilton has come out to nonchalantly dismiss Verstappen’s criticism and put his own positive spin on things.

Lewis Hamilton cuts Max Verstappen off

When these undisclosed changes were being discussed, The Race quoted the 2x champion as saying, “I’m not a fan of it at all. When we do all that kind of stuff the weekend is going to become more intense and we’re already doing so many races. So that’s not the right way to go about it.”

“For me, a sprint race is all about surviving. It’s not about racing. When you have a quick car, there’s nothing to risk. I prefer to just keep my car alive and make sure you have a good race car for Sunday. Even if you change the format, I don’t find it’s the DNA of F1 to do these kind of sprint races.” 

Now that all the teams have given their assent, and the format decided, Hamilton chose to say, “I do think we constantly need to be evolving and assessing what we’re doing. I think the changes with the sprint races have been positive in some places. I’m open to changes, to continue to make it more inclusive and more engaging for the fans.”

“I quite like the Friday of a sprint weekend so far, and I’d love to have more qualifying because that’s always super fun. I just think it should be different. Perhaps we can just apply just slightly small changes to different races, specific to those places,” as quoted by Speedcafe.com.

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While Hamilton is all up for changes, his team boss doesn’t exactly share the same enthusiasm.

Toto Wolff warns F1 about Sprint format changes

Under normal circumstances, if your driver is happy, then you, as a team principal, should be, too. But in light of the Sprint format changes, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has come out with a wise warning for the powers that be, even though Hamilton has welcomed change with open arms.

RacingNews365.com quoted him as saying, “I’m more on the conservative side. I like qualifying. I like the grand prix, the great prize, but we have to also be open-minded about where the sport is going to go and some of the sprint races have been fantastic.”

“So whatever Stefano decides is good, I think he will have all the data on the table what is good for the audiences, what is good for the brand and then we just want to maybe try and tweak things without using a baseball bat, but with a Stanley knife.”

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What do you make of the new Sprint format with an additional Sprint qualifying added to the weekend?