Verstappen's F1 Dominance 'Brings Viewers To Formula E' Says Red Bull Development Driver

Tuesday, 16 January 2024 at 04:00

Updated at Tuesday, 16 January 2024 at 09:22

Max Verstappen has the most dominant season in F1's history, and according to Red Bull's development driver, Jake Dennis, it brings viewers to Formula E.

Formula E is an interesting product, which for a moment, some thought would be able to compete with Formula One. However, that has soon proved to be far from the truth.

One of the drivers competing in Formula E is also Jake Dennis, who is the most recent Formula E World Champion, but also Red Bull development driver.

He got a chance to sit in RB19 during the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Free Practice 1, and now, ahead of the new season, Dennis talked to Mirror about the new RB20, which is set to launch in February.

"We've got an extremely fast race car again at the Red Bull team. I would expect us to become champions again, unless someone like Ferrari or Mercedes somehow manages to find about a second [per lap] overnight."

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On top of that, Dennis claimed that because of Verstappen's dominance, who won 19 of 22 races in 2023, many fans turn away from Formula One and watch Formula E.

"It's so dominant from Max right now, it really brings new viewers to Formula E. It brings our championship alive because we just don't have that - we have a championship which is extremely difficult and close."

According to the 2022-23 Formula E World Champion, who won just by 30 points ahead of Nick Cassidy, the main reason is how close Formula E is, compared to Formula One, where there are major differences between the teams.

"We have 20 cars within two or three seconds on certain tracks, so it's a lot more exciting and a lot more enjoyable for the fans, I would say. We just need to branch out there to a bigger audience for Formula E and get plenty of exposure, which is what is needed for the championship to take it to the next level."