Verstappen disrupts Liberty Media plans: 'Sometimes you have to be patient'

Max Verstappen seems to be on an extremely cold-blooded path to title number three. No fuss, no excitement, just a clinically won world championship. No doubt there is admiration in the office at Liberty Media - the owner of Formula One - for the level of performance of the two-time champion. There is probably also a little disquiet, now that a superior Verstappen is morphing that Liberty Media has spent years carefully building.

Formula 1, according to proven American concept, should be more than just a sport. Not least, it needs drama between outspoken characters. That sells, as the Netflix series Drive to Survive has proved. With its partly scripted (and incorrect) storylines, Liberty Media has managed to reach an entirely new audience in a relatively short time. More audience means more sponsors, equals higher revenues.

The American way

Formula 1 as a bland soap opera full of expensive cars and tough guys. "That's nothing to do with the racing at all", former world champion Damon Hill said recently on Sky Sports' F1 podcast. "How much the demand and interest in the sport recently is do with something that is nothing to do with the format of the racing. It's how the sport is being communicated to new fans, and old fans in a way we haven't seen before."

There is a danger in Liberty Media's changed approach. Should the drama and excitement subside, these viewers may leave as quickly as they came. For example, in the current season, where Max Verstappen is miles above the rest. The only competition consists of Sergio Perez, although the Mexican never seems seriously capable of attacking his teammate. An extremely monotonous year is looming, just when new viewers have become accustomed to the constant drama.

Negative side effect of supremacy

Verstappen's fans probably think it is all fine. Diehard racing fans, in turn, no doubt recognise the beauty of a performance when a driver outlandishly declassifies the rest of the field. Still, a lot of new fans are bound to drop out, as F1 with a supreme Verstappen becomes too boring and predictable. No doubt Liberty Media realises that this is a negative side-effect of one driver's dominance, and is considering other ways to keep the drama and excitement in. Introducing more sprint races is a first corollary.

"Out of five races, you'll get three good ones and two dull ones," Hill said, looking back to his own time in Formula 1. "You will always get the three good ones, and you might get the absolute classic of all time. Nobody interfered with that, it just happened. That's what this sport does. I do think there is a danger, the more you interfere with it to get to that classic race every race, you are not actually increasing the rarity of that event anymore, you're just making it the norm. That's one of the catches with making things more exciting."

Since the Americans have owned the Formula One rights, changes have been implemented at breakneck speed. Most of them proved to be an absolute hit, as Formula 1 is doing well worldwide. The danger looms that new artifices will let the sport drift too far away from its core, and an extremely pricey soap opera will indeed be all that remains. A pure racer as he is, Hill therefore has an important tip for Liberty Media: "Sometimes you have to be patient and wait for it to happen."