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Max Verstappen’s domination of F1 is proving a “challenge”, according to the boss of F1’s owners, and only a broken leg can stop the soon-to-be three-time champion.
Liberty Media has seen the growth of the sport it took control of in 2017 skyrocket over the past few years, with record attendances at circuits, and viewership figures increasing substantially around the world.
Red Bull driver Verstappen, however, has put a spoke in the wheel of Liberty’s success story by dominating the sport since the start of last year, most recently setting a new record for consecutive race victories with 10 by taking the chequered flag in Italy.
Liberty Media president and CEO Greg Maffei concedes that all F1 can do is watch and marvel at what Verstappen is achieving.
“The midfield is quite interesting, and we can show statistically there’s more overtaking than has ever occurred,” said Maffei, speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Technology Conference in San Francisco.
“The challenge obviously is Max Verstappen is having an unbelievable year, a record-setting year.
“Stefano Domenicali (F1 CEO) is rightly trying to pivot and say, ‘Come watch this historic event. You’ve never seen success like this. You don’t want to miss it’. We’ll see if that works.
“The reality is, we have a very attractive competitive product, other than the fact that Max is that fast.”
Maffei then jokingly referenced the 1994 scandal in which Tonya Harding, an American figure skater, was involved in a conspiracy that resulted in her rival for upcoming Olympic glory, Nancy Kerrigan, being attacked and her right leg injured.
“Short of breaking his leg, à la Tonya Harding, I’m not sure what we can do about that,” quipped Maffei.
“But he’s a phenom. He’s driving what seems to be the fastest car and he’s driving it very well.
“If you look at the lines he’s taking, how aggressive those lines are, but how well he’s able to navigate them, it is truly stunning, and you can see, statistically, why he is faster than anybody else.”
The remarkable run of success of Verstappen and Red Bull, with the team winning 24 of the last 25 grands prix, has led to Maffei conceding that “viewership is a little tough”.
Overall, however, he insists the sport continues to boom.
“We’ve had many successes this year,” he added. “I think three of the top four races here in the United States were all this year in terms of viewership, and our average viewership is up year over year.
“But nonetheless, there can be a specific circumstance, like last year Miami was standing alone, this year it was up against a Miami Heat game in the (NBA) playoffs. Those particular circumstances can drive the viewership of a race.
“If you take the totality of interest as measured by growth, not only in linear TV but how much we’ve grown – Instagram, YouTube views, TikTok views – the amount of interest in the sport has only catapulted greater, much greater than double digits.
“So I’m convinced our demand is very high.”
