Remember NASCAR? It used to be all the rage, with stock cars supplanting open-wheelers as the preferred racing vehicle in the U.S. in the 1990s. Big TV contracts followed, and then, well, kind of nothing. The reasons its bubble burst are legion and debatable, but one recurring theme, rightly or wrongly, is that the racing got predictable.
The new next big thing is, of course, Formula One, which has ridden a wave of popularity and goodwill from its Netflix reality series. (Again, an overly simplified explanation for the sport’s standing, but space is tight.) The great irony in the transfer of power is that last year NASCAR had one of its most unpredictable seasons ever. A total of 17 drivers visited Victory Lane, including a fella named Shane van Gisbergen, who won his debut, something that had never happened before in the top series’ modern era. (The moral: Pay attention to NASCAR. It’s fun!)
F1, meanwhile, witnessed an unprecedented level of dominance. Max Verstappen won 19 of the 23 races on the schedule, while also setting records for leading laps, taking points and leaving commentators grasping for something new to say. With no significant rule changes and zero driver changes, it’s hard to foresee things being very different in 2024. That’s not to say that F1 is unwatchable. Quite the contrary. Just because the same guy will be the favorite every weekend doesn’t mean a lack of drama. Indeed, it gins up plenty of excitement. Nineteen of the best drivers in the world are chasing one man, a preternaturally cool, calm, collected 26-year-old whose resting face is a kind of Mona Lisa smirk that says both I’m the best driver here and Ain’t this fun? (For the record, Dale Earnhardt had the same thing.) Verstappen isn’t a big bad—far from it. He’s so good that it’s worth watching just to see whether someone can take him down. And if he wins again? Well, you’ve just witnessed the best in the world doing his thing.
