Though Max Verstappen‘s dominant run in F1 has brought him all the accolades and glory, a part of the F1 community has also criticized him for it. The Dutchman has made it a habit of winning almost every race this season. Consequently, many fans and pundits believe that the 3x champion has made the sport boring by killing the competition. However, according to Graham Watson, the head of race operations at F1, Verstappen is the single biggest reason why the sport has been tapping into newer markets, per Formule1.nl.
Verstappen’s dominance can be traced back to 2022. The first half of last season saw a pretty intense battle between Charles Leclerc and Verstappen. But as Ferrari faltered, Verstappen seemingly ran away with the championship, and he hasn’t looked back ever since. Many term his meteoric grip on the sport as boring because at any given weekend, he is the firm favorite to win.
This year, right up to the Singapore GP, Max Verstappen won a record 10 races in a row. Naturally, when a driver is obliterating the competition this often and with such panache, fingers are pointed at him for making the game look awfully mundane. Be that as it may, no matter how monotonous it gets seeing Verstappen on the top step of the podium, his ever-growing fanbase loves it.
F1 owes a lot to Max Verstappen
According to Graham Watson, despite being criticized for making F1 boring, Max Verstappen is an integral reason behind F1’s growth. As it turns out, Verstappen really appeals to a certain demographic of fans that the sport has been vying for a long time now.
Watson explained as reported by Formule1, “Max has had a major impact on Formula 1. Has played a major role in the increased viewing figures and the fact that a new and younger audience has been tapped. Statistically speaking, that’s just the way it is. Because everything is calculated by us. Max obviously receives more attention in one market than in another. But even in markets where the sport is less popular, it is still creating more interest. That’s because many young fans support him.”
There’s always a flip side to the coin, however. The 2022 Miami GP was America’s highest watched race, ever. But this year, with the onset of Red Bull and Verstappen dominating anyway, a massive 650,000 fans chose to ditch the affair.
Love him or hate him, Verstappen is here to stay
In truth, the best that can be done about this situation is to wait and watch. Be that as it may, with the way Red Bull is developing the car, it won’t be a surprise to see Max Verstappen dominate until 2026.
However, a spanner in the works can be thrown in quicker than that, too. McLaren is making huge strides forward. They are tipped to be the team that will challenge Red Bull and Verstappen from 2024 onwards.
There are pretty compelling signs for it too. McLaren is the only team to have cut a massive piece of performance benefit away from the Bulls. They also have a very strong driver pairing of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
