Max Verstappen’s dominance has taken over Formula 1. The Dutch driver has won three back-to-back world titles and is the favorite for a fourth in 2024. The 26-year-old won the first two races of the 2024 season with ease. Now, Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds has taken a dig on the pinnacle of motorsport amidst Verstappen’s successful run.
Formula E is an all-electric racing series which started in 2014. The championship has seen its fair share of talented drivers including Sebastian Buemi and Jean Eric Vergne. However, Formula E has avoided a single team dominance in stark contrast to Formula 1. Jeff Dodds even placed a $250,000 bet if Max Verstappen was defeated this season.
The Formula E chief recalled the bet he placed which solidified his prediction regarding Max Verstappen dominating the 2024 season. Dodds claimed that many people reckoned that he was being unreasonable for placing such a bet before the start of the season.
I know I made a bit of a bet recently, which you might have seen where I talked about a Max Verstappen guarantee about how he will definitely win. And a lot of people at the time said I was being unreasonable. Jeff Dodds said as reported by RacingNews365
However, Jeff Dodds highlighted that Max Verstappen’s two race wins proved that he might be correct. The Formula E chief reckoned that perhaps the Dutch driver could win all 24 races this season. Moreover, Dodds affirmed that the all-electric racing series did not want to follow F1 in such one driver/team domination.
But here we are two for two. And it looks like now the question is can he win all 24? We do not want to be that sport.
Jeff Dodds highlights the need of competitiveness for fan interest
Dodds mentioned that in the nine seasons of Formula E, the series has seen eight different world champions including Nyck de Vries. Moreover, the championship battles usually have come down to the final round of the season as well.
I think we've had eight winners in nine seasons, pretty much every season has come down to the last race of the season.
The Formula E chief claimed that the sport understood the need for closer competition. Jeff Dodds highlighted that fans would only be willing to watch a championship if there was actually competition. As such, if the competition decreased then fans could move away from the sport altogether. Formula 1 recently saw a drop in viewership after Max Verstappen dominated the Bahrain season opener.
We know that fans love competitiveness, when competitiveness starts to go, fanbase starts to disappear.
Certainly, Max Verstappen’s dominance could dissuade casual fans from tuning in every F1 race weekend. However, the sport has no choice in this regard due to Red Bull’s success in car development. Subsequently, it lies on rival teams such as Ferrari and Mercedes to build a car which could be capable of challenging Milton Keynes.
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