Max Verstappen has changed the F1 Motorsport forever. The dominance of the Dutch driver in the past two years has been unprecedented. Moreover, he brought a change to the sport’s hegemony in 2021 when he denied Lewis Hamilton from winning his eighth title. It could have been the Mercedes star’s fifth championship win in a row. But the Red Bull sensation waited long for his maiden title success. And 2021 was the year when he made his dream come true. Moreover, it ended the streak of Mercedes that was going strong for eight years. When the German team was dominating the grid back in 2019, a Netflix show called Drive To Survive released it’s first season.
It was a big success and helped the sport gain a lot of popularity all over the world, especially in the USA. However, the ratings of the show started going through the roof in 2021 when Max and Lewis had an epic battle for the title. Eventually, the Dutch driver won the title after a very controversial Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that year. Anyhow, the new F1 fans who are originally fans of the Netflix show may start losing interest because there has not been much competition to enjoy in the last two years.
An F1 Business Expert Reveals The Flaws Of The Netflix Show’s Style Of Portraying Max Verstappen
Recently, in an interview with the Flat Chat podcast, Mark Gallagher mentioned Drive To Survive democratizes the sport. The former Jordan and Red Bull man feels there’s no point covering all 10 teams and 20 racers equally. Gallagher explained further why he doesn’t like the idea. He said the new fanbase won’t like to see one team and one racer dominating the grid throughout when they watch different teams on ten different episodes of each season of the show. That’s the reason why Gallagher said the 2023 season was devastating for the fan followings of the sport.
It is great for Red Bull and Max Verstappen. But the new fans would like to see teams like Alpine, Alfa Romeo, and even Haas win a race or two. Gallagher feels the Netflix show is like a ten-part television commercial for the sport. But when these fans go and watch the races live, one team and the driver dominate totally. Hence, it is challenging for the new fans to become die-hard fans of the sport. Moreover, the F1 business expert believes that the original fans of the sport who didn’t need the show to become fans will support F1 through thick and thin.
Gallagher Also Pointed Out The High Costs Of Race Tickets
The F1 business expert feels the sport will face a nervous wait to see if they can sustain the popularity. It is because the former Jordan and Red Bull man said the merchandise and ticket costs are really high. He wonders how some of the fans actually manage to get in. Gallagher says he’s an old person who has been around the sport for a long time. He has seen how the business has evolved in the sport over the years.
Moreover, Gallagher said in the Australian Grand Prix last year, when Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton had an exciting finish, there was a record crowd. But some of the fans commented on how expensive the ticket was. Max Verstappen won that race eventually. However, Gallagher said people who love to buy baseball caps and merchandise wouldn’t believe the ticket cost for these races.
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