Charles Leclerc suggests that Formula 1 potentially “could have done something different” to avoid the prospect of Max Verstappen winning this year’s title on Saturday.
Verstappen romped to a 13th win of 2023 last time out in Japan to seal Red Bull’s Constructors’ Championship and place himself on the verge of the Drivers’ crown.
Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez endured a nightmare weekend and eventually retired from the race, placing him 177 points behind Verstappen with only 180 available across the remaining six rounds of the campaign.
With F1’s return to Qatar yielding a Sprint weekend, Verstappen only needs to score three points in Saturday’s truncated race to secure his third consecutive world title.
Asked if the likelihood of Verstappen clinching the championship before Sunday demonstrates that the revised format shouldn’t be used in the closing stages of a season, Leclerc said: “Yes, maybe we could have done something different, but it’s also very difficult to predict whenever somebody is going to win the championship.
“And at the beginning of the year I don’t think many people would have bet that it would be so early, so, yes, we can be aware that if we have such weekends towards the end of the season, these things can happen, having more exciting things happening on a Saturday, when there’s less people watching, but that’s part of the game.”
Despite Leclerc’s concerns, Verstappen is not bothered by the possibility of accomplishing the unusual feat of winning the title ahead of Sunday’s main event.
Pressed on whether that probable scenario annoyed him in any way, the Dutchman replied: “Not for me. I mean we can celebrate throughout the weekend so that’s okay.”
However, the reigning World Champion once again outlined his dissatisfaction towards the Sprint configuration, arguing that the traditional weekend format creates more excitement and unpredictability for fans.
“Well, it’s not like it came out of the blue that I was going to win the championship like here or next week,” he continued.
“So I don’t think it really changes a lot but it’s more, I think for the drivers as well I prefer just the normal racing format. I think it’s just a bit more exciting and especially in qualifying you can go more to the limit because you know more of what you’ve done in practice.
“And, like, for example in Suzuka, like if you do FP1 then go straight into qualifying, you risk massive shunts and yeah. It’s not as fulfilling. And I always keep saying, once we do a Sprint Race, you will get the big picture anyway for the main race so you know more or less already, ah this car is going to be really good in the race, this one is going to drop back.
“So it takes away a little bit of the excitement away, I remember from when I was a fan, just the outside of the F1 world, you don’t know which car is particularly amazing in the long run, or have they nailed the race setup. You watch qualifying and go, oh wow, OK. It might be that one car is in front and they drop back in the race. It’s all unclear.
“Then you wake up for the Sunday race, and you all see it unfold. But because of the Sprint Race, it takes that already a bit away. You’re like, if nothing happens and he doesn’t crash, they’re going to win the race, that team or whatever.”
