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Fed up With Max Verstappen’s Dominance, Ex-F1 Boss Bernie Ecclestone Endorses Formula E

Published 03/19/2024, 6:50 AM EDT

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via Reuters

What’s new, you ask in the world of Formula 1? Well, the gist is the same. Max Verstappen wins races by tens and twenties of seconds and the rest of the grid plays catch-up. While there are exceptions of people who believe that the Dutchman’s reign is coming to an end, this robotic dominance seems most likely to continue. It has annoyed a lot of fans and Bernie Ecclestone now stands with them.

The genius of Adrian Newey has given Verstappen the freedom to bully around his rivals as if they were in F2 cars. Red Bull’s RB20 is a step above the RB19, in which Verstappen won 19 races. Counting in such an evolution, he now has a chance to top his 2023 record. For him and his team, dreams are coming true but at the cost of lessening viewership for the sport. This has led former F1 Boss Ecclestone to step in and surprisingly vouch for Formula E’s exciting races.

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“What’s the problem with Formula 1 at the moment is that one person wins every race,” Ecclestone said, as quoted by Soymotor. That’s not good, so I hope that doesn’t happen with Formula E. You see different countries represented and winning races. Well, I didn’t think it would last long. I thought the first race would be the last. So I’m glad to see that technically it’s turned out really well. Now, Formula E is at the level of Formula 1 in terms of technology.”

If what Ecclestone says is true and the electric category is right up there with F1 in terms of technology, the tag of ‘Pinnacle of Motorsport’ is up for grabs. And Formula E CEO, Jeff Dudds, is already pushing their case.

Formula E CEO takes a dig at F1 and Max Verstappen’s ‘Boring’ dominance

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Crossovers between Formula 1 and Formula E have increased. And Red Bull seems to be the hot topic on which statements are passed. First, it was Sergio Perez being asked to quit F1 and join the electric counterpart. Then it was Dudds who made a $250000 bet that none of Verstappen’s rivals would challenge him for the 2024 world championship. But Dudds didn’t stop at that bet. He even used the Dutchman’s dominance to convince fans to switch and watch Formula E.

via Reuters

“He’s (Max) already got two wins in two races,” Dudds told Soymotor. “Now it seems like the question is whether he can win all 24. We don’t want to be that kind of sport. I think we’ve had eight different winners in our nine seasons. Most of them have also been decided in the last race. We know that fans love competitiveness and when it starts to leave, the fans disappear.”

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Written by:

Yash Kotak

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Yash is an F1 writer at EssentiallySports. With a strong passion for communicating through written word and a keen interest in the world of motorsports, he thoroughly enjoys being a fan of F1 and covering it for other fans. Ever since he watched the 'INSIDE TRACKS' episode covering the 2018 German Grand Prix, he has fallen in love with the intriguingly complex world of F1.
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Edited by:

Akash Pandhare