Jeff Dodds has an interesting bet for Lewis Hamilton. The Formula E Chief Executive Officer is ready to donate a huge amount of money to the charity if Verstappen does not win the 2024 World Championship. Therefore, Hamilton, who’s hungrier than anybody else on the grid can claim the insane amount of money and donate to his own Mission 44.
The quoted amount is $250,000, and Dodds would give away the money to the charity of the choice of the driver who manages to beat the Dutchman. Speaking about this in an interview with TNT Sports, the Formula E CEO said, “I’ll tell you what, if he [Verstappen] doesn’t win it, so 20 drivers in Formula 1, if he doesn’t win it, so there’s 19 other drivers.”
“If any of the 19 other drivers wins it, we’ll give a quarter of a million dollars to the charity of choice of the other driver that wins it,” added Dodds. Notably, Lewis Hamilton, among all the other drivers, has more than a reason to fight for the world championship against Verstappen.
After losing the 2021 Championship at the very last minute, the Briton would want to snatch the title from the man who dethroned him. Also at the same time, he would want to claim a quarter of a million dollars for his charity. However, Dodds knows defeating Verstappen seems next to impossible as Red Bull are on a roll.
The Austrian team took 38 wins in the last 44 races and have nailed the latest ground effect regulations. Furthermore, the way Adrian Newey developed the latest RB20, chances are Verstappen may defend his title with ease. Hence, Dodds might just be keeping his money as well at the end of the season.
Why did Jeff Dodds take this bet?
Jeff Dodds, being a fan of Formula 1, knew the developments teams made. He had ample faith in Adrian Newey and Max Verstappen to pull the championship off and hence, was ready to put $250,000 in line for 19 other drivers to claim it. This might be a chance for Sergio Perez to thrive as well, who would also be driving a RB20.
However, having said that, there is little chance Verstappen, who claimed 19 wins out of 22 races in 2023 would lose the championship, believes Dodds. Especially, against Lewis Hamilton whose Mercedes W15 has a steep climb of performance against the fierce RB20.
Citing this, he made the comparison of Formula E to Formula 1. He explained how no one can predict the outcome of a Formula E race as no single driver is a favorite out there. But also at the same time, it’s entirely different for F1.
In F1, mostly one or two teams get the perfect understanding of the regulations and become invincible. In recent times, Red Bull dominated from 2010 to 2013. Following this, the regulations changed, and Mercedes’ dominance began in 2014. It stayed the same until 2021, and in 2022 it was again Red Bull on the throne.
Adrian Newey and Max Verstappen are unstoppable forces now. While rivals kept on copying the RB19, Newey went a step ahead to bring in three air inlets in the RB20 to leave rivals in utter shock. The result from it is already evident with Verstappen nailing the first day of pre-season testing by finishing over a 1 second quicker than second-placed Lando Norris.
