13 April 2023 , 12:08
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Former world champion Damon Hill doesn't believe Max Verstappen is "having fun" after he hit out at continued changes made by F1 chiefs.
The Dutchman, 25, is eyeing a third successive championship in what will be the longest season in history with 23 rounds, some of which include sprint races. Verstappen is among the longest serving drivers on the grid, despite his tender age, and has seen the sport's authorities attempt to seize on its increasing popularity.
The Red Bull driver has made it clear he's not a fan of the demand for more races and sprint and admitted if F1 continues to go in its current direction, he won't stick around.
Verstappen said: “I hope there won’t be too many changes, otherwise I won’t be around for too long. I am not a fan of it at all. When we do all that kind of stuff, the weekend becomes very intense and we already do a lot of races. I understand they want to make every day exciting.
"But they should reduce the weekend, and only qualify and race on Saturday and Sunday and make those two days exciting. We’re heading into seasons where you have at one point 24, 25 races, because that’s where we’re going to head into and if we start adding even more stuff, it’s not worth it for me anyway. I’m not enjoying that."
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Hill, who won the world championship in 1996, has called on the Dutchman to walk away from the sport having already won two titles. The Brit also questioned whether the 25-year-old is still enjoying his profession having raised several grievances.
The Dutchman has expressed concern with the current direction of the sport (Hasan Bratic/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)He said: “Max’s retirement threat is very unusual. It is kind of strange to hear, isn’t it? I mean, what’s he gonna do with himself? He should stop now, really. Stop now – he’s done it! You mentioned fun – I think that’s a very important point. Is he having fun, because I sometimes think he’s not having fun. I think you have to love what you’re doing, otherwise it’s a grind.”
Hill went on to add: “I think there’s an element of this with Max with him wanting not to waste his time on superfluous things that really are just invented for novelty reasons.
“I think he’s that kind of person. So I can imagine him just saying it because he just thinks ‘well, I just come here and want to win Grand Prix. I just want one race to mean something. I don’t want to have a half-value race, what’s the point of that on your CV? People aren’t gonna go ‘how many Grand Prix have you won? Now how many Sprints have you won?'”