Norris Winning Title Would Make Formula E CEO Donate $250,000 To Charity

Wednesday, 11 September 2024 at 20:00

If Lando Norris snatches the Drivers' Championship title from Max Verstappen, the Formula E CEO would have to honor his massive $250,000 bet.

Following the pre-season testing in Bahrain, Red Bull Racing looked like the strongest team on the F1 grid. Considering the previous season (which the Austrian team dominated), Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds didn't hesitate to make a public bet on Max Verstappen.

He said that if any of the other 19 drivers on the grid won the Drivers's Championship, he would donate $250,000 to a charity of the winner's choice.

Dodds was also making a point with this statement, suggesting that Formula E is much more unpredictable than Formula 1. He told TNT Sports back in February 2024:

“"99 percent he gets that trophy. I'll tell you what, so if he doesn't win it, there are 19 other drivers, if any one of the other 19 drivers win it, we'll give a quarter of a million dollars to the charity of choice of the driver that does win it."”

“"You can't win 19 out of 22 races in one season, go into off season, bit of development going on the cars, come back for the next one, and not win it. I just can't see it."”

TNT Sports

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"99% Max has got this in the bag"💥 @FIAFormulaE CEO Jeff Dodds puts $250k on the line – will it make Formula 1 more competitive? 🤯

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After the first ten Grand Prix races of the 2024 season (out of which Verstappen won seven), it seemed like the CEO of Formula E was completely correct.

However, the tables turned quite quickly after that, and Red Bull suddenly lost its dominance. The Austrian team had only the fourth-fastest car at the most recent race, the 2024 Italian Grand Prix.

On the one hand, Max Verstappen built up an enormous lead at the start of the season. On the other hand, Lando Norris on McLaren started catching up with him and might still snatch the title.

If the Papaya driver wants to win the title, he needs to outperform Verstappen by more than 7,75 points every weekend until the end of the season.

If he managed to do so, the Formula E CEO would be obliged to donate a huge sum of money to the charity of Norris's choice. Can Norris catch up with the Dutchman?