Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly share their verdict on the revised sprint format

Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly felt the revised format for sprint weekends is much better with the new Parc Ferme rules. Speaking in the press conference at the test in Bahrain, the duo felt that the new format allows their teams to change their car setups for the race.

The previous sprint format featured a single practice session followed by qualifying, after which the teams could not change their car until the main race day. The new format allows the teams to change their car setups prior to the race, which doesn’t make it inconvenient for the teams anymore. Many of the teams would get caught out by not getting their setups right and were not able to correct it prior to the race.

Having been vocal in the past about his dislike for sprint races, Max Verstappen now feels that the format is more logical. Despite the change, the Dutchman stated that the format is still not something he would get excited about. His former teammate Gasly felt that the new sprint race rules left teams room to analyze their cars better.

Asked if his views about sprint races have changed, Verstappen said:

“I mean, it's a better format, I would say, in terms of how you approached the weekend. But I don't get more excited about the race itself. But at least I think it's better that, yeah, you're still able to change the car, you know, for the weekend, and a bit more of a logic to it in terms of how you have the sessions now in the race weekend.”

Answering the same question, Gasly added:

“I think, yeah, I agree, the format is better. Just from, I would say mainly the fact that we've got, you know, a bunch of very smart engineers here. here. So when you, basically last year after FP1, you're not able to change anything on the car set of all these smart people, actually can't have an input on the car performance over the whole weekend. So I think it's a lot better for them. There'll be a lot more busy analyzing and trying to always develop the car and try to find extra performance throughout the whole weekend. So yeah, definitely a positive change.”

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Max Verstappen reckons the RB20 felt "normal" and is headed in the right direction

Max Verstappen claimed that the RB20 felt "normal" and that he trusted the team completely to choose the direction for the car's development.

The 25-year-old claimed that his virtual experience with the car in the simulator matched the real-time experience at the test. He stated that he had seen drawings of it previously and that the look of the car didn’t matter to him as long as it was quick. Despite a wet filming day in Silverstone, where they carried out shakedown laps on the car, the Dutchman revealed feeling good in the car.

Asked if he had any doubts, nervousness, or curiosity getting into the RB20 in Bahrain, Max Verstappen said:

“Oh, I trust the team to be honest that they make the right decisions in terms of choosing the direction of the car. I saw of course how it was already a bit drawn at the end of last year but honestly I don't care how the car looks like as long as fast. And also when I saw it for the first time fully built together I was like whatever shape it has. That's right, I go and sit in the car and once you drive out you feel quite quickly, you know, if it feels quite normal or not.”

“Unfortunately, you know, our filming day was only wet, so you don't really know anything. But as soon as I jumped in here, yeah, it felt pretty normal. Yeah, it looks a bit different, but it's the direction that the team chose, and you know, I believe that that's the best direction to go into if they say so. And from my side now its all about just giving my feedback about you know balance of the car, what I think can be improved but that's anyway an ongoing process with a car.”

Asked if the car was okay from Lap 1 in the test, Verstappen said:

“Well I think we also started just with some normal aero tests. So you have a few laps to just settle in and I mean it's not like you go out of the pits and you are merely on the limit you know you just build into it as well. But everything felt quite normal like how we were driving on the simulator as well.”

With 209 laps completed in the RB20 in one and a half days of testing, Verstappen topped the first day of the test, a second ahead of the grid. While testing times are not representative of the actual pace of the car, his long runs on the final day of the test were consistent.

According to speculation from the preseason test, Red Bull are again expected to be ahead of the pack. However, many feel Red Bull's gap between Ferrari and Mercedes could be lesser than before.