Bizarre bet: Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds places 250,000 US dollars on F1 champion Max Verstappen

On Wednesday, TNT Sports published a video on its social media channels featuring an interview with Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds, who spoke about Max Verstappen's chances of winning the Formula 1 title. He is sure that Verstappen will also win the F1 championship also in 2024. So sure, in fact, that Dodds put a bet of 250,000 US dollars on the line.

"If one of the other 19 drivers wins the Formula 1 World Championship, we'll give a quarter of a million dollars to charity," said Dodds in the interview. The presenter is surprised by Dodds' answer and follows up, but the Formula E CEO is sure of his statement. "You can't win 19 out of 21 races in a season and come into the next season and not win the title."

Shortly afterwards, a supposedly invented chat between Alejandro Agag, the Formula E Chairman, and Dodds was published on the official Formula E Instagram channel. The Briton sees himself as having a certain responsibility and jokes about his Formula 1 bet: "Someone has to provide a bit of competition."

 

 

 

 

 

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Agag goes along with his bet, but stipulates: "If someone other than Max Verstappen wins, you're paying." After all, Dodds had said in the interview: "Well, there are worse things than donating to a good cause."

Dodds: In Formula E, nobody knows who will win

Dodds also compares the predictability of Formula 1 and Formula E in the video: "I will arrive in Sao Paulo and none of us have any idea who will win the race. As a Formula 1 fan, I start the season knowing right away who's going to win."

It follows that Dodds would probably not bet 250,000 dollars on the Formula E world champion. While Verstappen dominated the first F1 test day of the year in Bahrain, Formula E fans are waiting for the fourth race of the season in Sao Paulo, which will be held on 16 March.