Sister Series Boasts in the Face of F1’s Max Verstappen Problem: “Fans Start To Leave”

Credits: IMAGO / Marco Canoniero

The last two years have seen Max Verstappen dominate the F1 grid. While he won 15 of the 22 races in 2022, last year he took the top step of the podium in 19 races, among which 10 victories came in a row. This dominance carried onto the 2024 campaign, with Verstappen picking two wins in two races so far. Looking at his superiority over the entire grid, Executive Director of Formula E, Jeff Dodds, warns F1 that it will begin to lose fans.

As quoted by Marca.com, Dodds said, “ We know that fans love competitiveness and when it starts to fade, fans disappear.”

Subsequently, Dodds likened F1 to the ‘Great Circus’, saying that his field of motorsport is nothing like the F1 because of its competitiveness.

Over the last few years, competition has been scarce in F1. Seldom bursts in performance from Ferrari and McLaren aside, Red Bull has been untroubled. They won the 2022 and 223 titles with ease, and things look ominous for the other nine teams this year too. This is contrary to what is going on in F1’s sister series.

Speaking about the same, Dodds stated that in the last three Formula E seasons, the title has been decided in the last race of the championship. With his assertion, Dodds pointed towards the last two F1 seasons in which Max Verstappen emerged victorious in the championship with a handful of races remaining.

Last year, Verstappen won 19 out of 22 races. This year, too, most expect him to win as many, if not more (or all). Could this lead a dip in fans’ interest?

Is Max Verstappen’s dominance flattening fans’ interest in F1?

Although Max Verstappen’s unwavering supremacy has crowned him the world champion three times in a row, fans don’t seem to be fond of his control over the entire F1 grid. This is because a case study conducted by Buzz Radar has revealed a notable decrease in interest in 2023.

Three particular areas on social media showed a massive decline: mentions, growth of key social accounts, and total reach (socially). While the social mentions trajectory grew 74.32% in 2021 it came down significantly to -70.20% in 2023. Moreover, the key accounts dropped to -46.29 in 2023 after growing by 250% in 2021. Finally, there has also been a significant decline in the overall reach. While in 2023 it was -64.10%, the numbers saw a reach of 74.83%, back in 2021.

Moreover, Verstappen’s supernatural domination, for example, contributed to The Miami Grand Prix’s 24% decline in viewership on ABC in 2023 compared to its 2022 debut. Furthermore, ESPN saw a decrease in average viewership from 1.3 million per race to 1.24 million during the first 13 races of the season.

With these statistics, it is evident that several fans are refusing to tune into F1 action, because of the inevitability of the result. The only way viewership is likely to increase is if the competitiveness grows.