FORMULA 1: Max Verstappen is Just as Bored as You Are

Dominance across the sport is a vital part of the culture of Formula 1. The first example that comes to mind is, obviously, the reign of Lewis Hamilton from 2014 to 2020 (with the exception of Nico Rosberg’s stealthy win in 2016) but in reality, the further back you look, the clearer it becomes that this is just the nature of the sport. Sebastian Vettel from 2010 to 2013. Michael Schumacher from 2000 to 2004. And it seems we’re living it as we speak–Max Verstappen began his reign with his impressive albeit controversial championship win in 2021 and has been unstoppable ever since.

Why is that? Why is it that not only a single team but a single driver has the ability to dominate the “pinnacle of motorsport”? More importantly, has this factor become such a key part of the sport that should Formula 1’s governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), implement regulations that eliminate it, the sport would lose viewership?

The answer to the first question lies in the very core of Formula 1–it isn’t a spec series. This means that each team is permitted to design their car however they may desire within the bounds of a specific set of regulations. In other racing series like NTT IndyCar, all teams are given the same chassis and begin on similar starting blocks. By allowing each team to craft their machine–in essence, their tool–to their liking, imbalances begin to reveal themselves.

Firstly, funding. It’s no secret that some teams have access to more money than others–a motorsport behemoth like the Red Bull company has not only the monetary ability but the willingness to allocate that money in a way that a smaller company like Haas simply doesn’t. The FIA has attempted to close the gap between the teams in recent years by implementing a budget cap that has been consistently decreasing as the seasons go on, but this has done very little in the way of evening the playing field. Teams like Red Bull and Aston Martin have already been caught red-handed for breaking the budget cap, and their consequences consisted of a series of small fines–in effect, a slap on the wrist. Until the FIA begins enforcing these regulations, they effectively mean nothing.

So, a bigger budget doesn’t just mean a better car, it also means better drivers. When McLaren Racing announced that they terminated Daniel Ricciardo’s contract early and that he would not be driving for them for the 2023 season, fans and pundits alike spent months scrapping together bits of information to configure a list of possibilities for Ricciardo’s future. The obvious answer seemed to be the newly open seat at Williams Racing, typically found much farther back on the starting grid than Ricciardo would like, or perhaps the other newly open seat at Haas, a team typically found with their car in the gravel. Ricciardo instead found himself as a third driver back with his home team Red Bull Racing and not actively competing, but viewers gained a bit more clarity when later in the year, season 5 of Netflix’s F1-based reality show Drive to Survive aired, revealing that Haas had considered Ricciardo, only to immediately shut down the idea. Why? They couldn’t afford him; he was just too good.

Okay, so money brings fast cars and great drivers–that still doesn’t answer the question of why this all feels so different now. As aforementioned, a single driver’s dominance is a historical and accepted aspect of Formula 1, and yet something in the air is different this time around. The answer lies in Red Bull’s number one (literally) driver, the Dutch Lion himself: Max Verstappen. Verstappen isn’t after the wins and records the way Schumacher, Vettel, and Hamilton were–he couldn’t care less about numbers. What people tend to forget about Verstappen is that he was born and bred to be a violent racing machine in a way that his peers simply weren’t, for better or for worse, and has continuously stated that should he keep winning in this stagnant manner, he’d leave Formula 1 for good. His hunger for not only speed but some level of danger is what’s keeping Verstappen at Red Bull Racing, but the second his car begins to underperform or the races and wins start blurring together, he’s not afraid to up and leave, which is something that cannot be said for his legendary predecessors.

At the end of the day, Formula 1 is losing critical viewership and interest because of its predictability. What viewers caught on to through shows like Netflix’s Drive to Survive and clips of their favorite celebrities waving the checkered flag at the end of a grand prix was the speed, the glamor, the danger of it all; the fact that out of all the racing drivers in the world, only twenty would be selected to compete and drive upwards of 220 miles per hour then spray each other with champagne on the podium. What viewers were instead met with when following the past few seasons is a single storyline replaying like a broken record: Verstappen on pole position, Verstappen leads the race, Verstappen sets the fastest lap, Verstappen wins the race, rinse, repeat. Unless the FIA begins cracking down on overspending and enforcing the regulations they put into place to even the playing field between teams or Verstappen elects to leave the sport altogether, this cycle will continue on and on. There’s no telling which will come first–but in the meantime, Red Bull Racing will remain the king of Formula 1 with Max Verstappen as its crown jewel.