Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff cannot hide their annoyance over their rival Red Bull’s dominance. It is indeed getting boring to a certain degree to see Max Verstappen and his team having all the fun. The Austrian team has won 31 races since last year with the introduction of the cost cap regulations. Clearly, the new cost cap era has not been more successful for any team other than Red Bull, and the current season is not yet over. There are still eight more races to go. The team can still finish the season remaining unbeaten, and Max Verstappen can win as many as twenty races this season. The Dutchman has already won 12 after 14 races so far. Both as team and driver, the Red Bull Racing organization is about to break all sorts of records this season.
It sure sounds good for the Red Bull fans, but is it really great for the F1 sports’ popularity? The Dutchman is on his way to win his third consecutive title. However, unlike the dominating reign of Lewis Hamilton, Max has won more than 65% of races every season since 2022. Hence, this hegemony of the current double-time champion is so unique that it is hard to digest for its rivals. Hence, Lewis Hamilton advised the governing body to refine the rules of the sport to stop one team’s dominance. But Ferrari and McLaren disagreed with this suggestion. They want to beat Red Bull on merit. Hamilton’s team principal also mentioned that F1 can’t produce scripted entertainment.
Mercedes Boss Disagrees With Lewis Hamilton In Terms Of Changing Rules
Toto Wolff recently told the media that he cannot agree as a team principal to change rules to stop one team’s hegemony. Moreover, Wolff believes what Red Bull has achieved is mainly due to their merit. As long as Red Bull complies with the rules and regulations, there is nothing else the other teams can do about it. Moreover, Toto Wolff believes if Mercedes takes a long time to catch up with Red Bull, then so be it. Wolff cited the example of Lewis Hamilton and their team’s dominant era that many people called “Foul.”
But the Mercedes boss knows that entertainment follows sport always. There is no vice versa to that. Most importantly, Toto Wolff does not want F1 to become like WWE in terms of scripted content. Adding to that, Toto Wolff also mentioned that only mistakes from Red Bull’s side and if they mess it up somehow, only then it can prevent a clean sweep. Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton will be eagerly waiting for that chance.
F1 Fans Always Like Competition Instead Of One Team Or Driver’s Dominance
Fans like competition, and viewership increases with intense battles between two great teams and drivers. Moreover, Formula One knows the value of intense rivalries in motorsports for popularity and viewership. The era of Niki Lauda and James Hunt’s rivalry and later Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost’s rivalry in F1 saw the viewership reach a whole other level. In the last three years, the F1’s popularity reached the USA because of the Netflix docu-series Drive To Survive.
The popularity increased even more after the 2021 season, which saw an epic clash between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. That year, Max broke the streak of Hamilton’s four consecutive championships. Moreover, Lewis Hamilton narrowly lost to Max Verstappen and missed out on his eighth championship in 2021. He was so close to getting it and breaking Michael Schumacher’s record on the way. However, it did not go according to Hamilton’s plan, and Verstappen took over the hegemony ever since.
