F1 chief rules out efforts to stop one-team dominance

Formula One CEO Stefano Domenicali is adamant Max Verstappen’s continued domination of the sport will not impact its popularity in the United States, and has ruled out “WWE”-style intervention to mix up the order.

In the past five years, F1 has experienced rapid growth in the U.S. with average television viewing figures more than doubling between 2018 and 2023.

– ESPN’s Unlapped Podcast: Is this the best Max Verstappen has ever been?

The sport’s boom has largely been attributed to the success of the Netflix docu-series “Drive to Survive” combined with F1’s increased efforts to market the sport in the U.S., but the growth was also turbocharged by the intense title battle between Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton for the 2021 title that went down to the final lap of the season.

Since then, F1 has been much more one sided, and in the case of 2023 and 2024 almost have been almost entirely dominated by Verstappen and Red Bull.

The lack of competition has led to concerns that American fans might switch off, but Domenicali argued the opposite in an interview with ESPN.

“I tell you why, because we need to create legends in all sports,” Domenicali said. “If you change too many winners, people do not capture the significance of being so strong.

“And the element of being strong has always been a part of Formula One, it is a cyclical sport when it comes to success.

“In the U.S. you have for many years the same team or same athlete winning and then you have iconic players and iconic teams, so for that I don’t think it is negative.

“For sure, if you ask me my personal opinion I would like to have exciting action on the track, and this is happening. For now, Max is the strongest with the best car, for sure, but I am not so worried about it because it is part of the nature of the sport.”

Domenicali ruled out the possibility of F1 attempting to change the rules to make the sport more competitive. Upcoming engine and chassis regulation changes in 2026 could see the competitive order upended, but F1’s CEO said it will not be as a result of a targeted intervention to hold one team back.

“[This is] what we cannot have, we are not WWE,” he added. “With a lot of respect to WWE, our fights on the track have to be real.

“And…