Lando Norris admits he can’t blame fans who decide to turn their back on Formula One in the wake of Max Verstappen‘s incredible yet increasingly predictable dominance in the sport.
Triple world champion Verstappen has begun the 2024 season in the same emphatic fashion to which he finished the last, winning three of the opening four races. The only blot on Verstappen’s copybook came at the Australian Grand Prix where he was forced into an early retirement after his car was struck down by a reliability issue.
With those temporary troubles now history, Red Bull’s flying Dutchman has a golden opportunity to make it four wins from five after as he prepares to start Sunday morning’s Chinese Grand Prix on pole.
Victory in China for the championship leader would only strengthen Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff‘s claim that nobody could catch Verstappen this season. That assessment, though a fair one, paints a bleak picture for fans who were craving a close fight for the title.
‘Of course it is going be. There is no way you can say it won’t be,’ said Norris, who will start fourth on Sunday morning, when asked whether Verstappen’s continued success will be a turn-off for fans.
Lando Norris says he understands if fans find F1 boring given Max Verstappen’s dominance
Verstappen has won three of the opening four races as he continues to thrive in his Red Bull
‘If you see the same driver winning every single time without a fight then of course it does start to become boring and that is obvious.
‘It is frustrating for people watching but that is the sport. It has always been like this. Now, we are seeing more dominance than ever so it is never going to be the best to watch and the only exciting races have been the ones that Max is not in.
‘As a field, from first to last, it is almost the closest it has ever been. But you have just got one of the best drivers ever in Formula One in one of the most dominant cars and it is a combination that is deadly.’
So, how can the sport go about levelling the playing field? It is a question that left even Norris scratching his head.
He said: ‘They (Red Bull) just do a better job and I don’t know how much you can limit that? It is also what makes Formula One so special and so cool and unique because everyone does their own thing.
Norris admits that it would be complicated to make significant changes to the sport’s rules
‘If everyone had the same car you would lose half of the fans and you would lose the specialness of what Formula One is which is everyone coming up with their own ideas.
‘It is just so complicated so maybe we need to make it more simple by opening up or closing the regulations. Both could work, I guess.’
