Sprint race qualifying 'not F1'

Jacques Villeneuve

(GMM) F1's forthcoming sprint race qualifying format risks turning the sport into "a game".

That is the view of 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve, but it comes at the same time as Max Verstappen likened the reverse-grid Saturday race idea as akin to "American wrestling".

Villeneuve told Russia's Championat: "It's fun, but it's not Formula 1, it's not a race.

"This will turn a professional sport into a game. If they want it, ok, but there will be almost no sport in it.

"I do not think changes should be made to make the show more fun on TV. Racing should remain a sport. There are some unshakable foundations that should not be changed."

In fact, Villeneuve is not sure why Liberty Media wants to make such a drastic change.

"The racing has never been so good," he said.

"Everyone constantly looks back at the 50s, 60s, 70s, and the Senna and Prost era, and they say that it was great then.

"But Senna and Prost lapped everybody, there was no overtaking – was it that great?

"Or is it that in our era we need something new every five seconds? What I do know is that if we move Formula 1 in this direction, we will destroy it."