By The 2024 Formula One world championship has become one of the closer battles in recent memory as Red Bull and Max Verstappen’s dominant run has ended.
“To see how Red Bull have stumbled, to witness how first Ferrari, then McLaren, and now Mercedes have been able to pull back that advantage and make it a four-way fight, has been utterly astonishing,” Will Buxton, Formula one presenter, told the USA TODAY Network.
Buxton — one of the most prominent faces on the Netflix docudrama series “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” — has covered the sport for two decades. With nine races left, this already looks to be one of the most exciting Formula One championships in years.
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A fixture in Formula One
In college, Buxton wrote his thesis on the politics of Formula One. His professors hated it, but that was the beginning of his career.
“I sent to the guys at Formula One magazine and they thought it was OK,” Buxton recalled. “They gave me a bit of work experience off the back of it.”
Buxton spent three years as a writer before working as a press officer and director of communications for the GP2 Series, now Formula 2. In 2010, he joined the Fox Sports-owned Speed channel as a pit reporter.
With no prior broadcast experience, he relied on his experience as a writer talking with fans at track campsites as a guide.
“When you’re given this amazing access and allowed into this hallowed sanctum of the paddock, you’re the middleman,” he explained. “You’re a conduit in order to tell these stories and almost have a campfire chat with people at the end of the day.”
Buxton moved to NBC Sports from 2013 to 2017 in the same role. The network lost rights to Formula One in 2018 but Liberty Media, Formula One’s new ownership group, hired Buxton as their first digital presenter.
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The ‘Drive to Survive’ impact
Liberty Media focused on expanding digital content of the sport and Buxton was a key face in the new content streams.
“What Liberty were doing were embracing new media,” Buxton said. “There was this huge opportunity to do something really great… [but] it had to be broadcast quality from the very start.”
That coincided with season one of “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” filmed during the 2018 season. Buxton was heavily featured in it and has been a fixture in the five subsequent seasons as the show’s driven a spike in popularity of the sport.
“It’s been an amazing driver of the series,” Buxton said. “We now have 1.5 billion viewers in 180 territories, which is insane. And one in three have been watching for five years or less.”
The 2024 Formula One season
Verstappen rattled off four wins in the first five races this year and looked set for another dominant season.
Then McLaren’s Lando Norris won his first career race in Miami. And Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc won in Monaco. For the first time in years, the balance of power changes from race to race. Seven different winners in 2024 is the highest since eight in 2012.
Buxton credits Formula 1’s budget cap and a sliding development scale, instituted in 2021, for leveling the playing field.
“The big teams with the big money can’t just outspend their rivals anymore,” he said. “They have the same pot of cash as every team… now you have this competitive convergence and the opportunity for those at the back to catch up and a kind of stifling for the top teams where they have to work with less time and less money.”
It’s led to close racing and some controversial finishes. Late contact between Norris and Verstappen in a fight for the lead at the Austrian Grand Prix took both out of contention and gave Mercedes’ George Russell an opportunistic victory. Russell is one of four drivers to win the last five races.
This playing field benefits a generation of drivers, including Norris and Russell, who are more familiar with each other than any before them.
“From go-karts through junior formula all the way up the ladder to Formula 1, they’ve all been competing with one another,” Buxton said. “They have a great understanding of how to race one another.”
That familiarity on the track’s led to friendship off it in a world that Buxton says can be quite lonely.
“[Verstappen] and [Norris] are a great example,” Buxton explained. “Two great friends who this year have become absolute rivals, who have made contact with each other on track. These are guys who hang out together… they’re seen in Ibiza at Martin Garrix parties together. Then you see a race like Austria where they were hunting each other down.”
Norris and Verstappen will be at odds for the rest of the season with Oscar Piastri, Russell, and Hamilton in the mix as well.
“It’s a fascinating position we find ourselves in,” Buxton said. “Both championships are genuinely up for competition. The driver’s championship will be a little bit more difficult but all it takes is a couple of races where [Verstappen] has an off day and doesn’t score and it’s game on.”
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A guide for new Formula One fans
As more fans tune in, Buxton’s new book “Grand Prix” offers a resource. It started out as a children’s book about Formula One but expanded to an all-ages guide on the iconic motorsport.
“We thought there was an opportunity to do something that hasn’t been done before,” Buxton said. “If we want to tell the story of the sport and get people involved, why don’t we talk to the new fan base but also keep it relevant to the old fan base?”
Vibrant illustrations help explain tracks and technological innovations as well as build visual profiles for the top drivers of different decades.
“I loved the unique nature that those illustrations brought to the vibe of the book,” Buxton said. “When I was a student on my wall at university, I had this beautiful watercolor print of all of the great Ferrari Formula 1 cars and I guess that’s part of where that comes from.”
Buxton released his first book in 2019 and featured interviews with winners and champions from across many motor racing formulas, including NASCAR, Formula One, and IndyCar. “Grand Prix” strikes a different tone. Buxton likened it to current NBA fans learning about the 1990s Chicago Bulls or Showtime-era Lakers.
“We have to break the barriers of the perceived knowledge that everyone has and take it down to basics and lay it out in a way that isn’t scary,” Buxton said. “And hopefully is accessible.”
Buxton admits its similar to his role on “Formula 1: Drive to Survive.”
“They kind of get me in to explain the obvious bits,” he said. “Or at least the things that seem obvious if you’ve been watching for ages but if you’re new to the sport, they’re key questions to answer.”
“Grand Prix” is available now that Formula One has returned from the summer break.
