One racing series chief was so sure about Max Verstappen's title defence that a charity will gain nearly £200k if he loses out to Lando Norris.
Verstappen and his Red Bull team started the season strongly again and the title looked to be a foregone conclusion after the Dutchman won seven of the first 10 races. But he hasn't tasted victory since and McLaren are making them sweat.
They are just eight points behind and, given their superior form, could take the lead in the constructors' championship after this weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Norris is a little further back in the drivers', 62 adrift of Verstappen, but that gap will close if he continues to gain as he has been in recent weeks.
Everyone knew Red Bull's period of dominance would end, but no-one expected it to happen as swiftly and as suddenly as it has. Among those shocked by this turn of events will be Jeff Dodds, the CEO of all-electric racing series Formula E.
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Speaking ahead of the current F1 season, Dodds attempted to build up hype in his own racing series by questioning the competitiveness of the top single-seater category. "Ninety-nine percent he gets that trophy," the former Virgin Media O2 boss told TNT Sports.
However, the current situation makes it safe to say Dodds was over-confident in his prediction. And he will be made to pay for it if Norris does manage to get the job done, because of what he said next.
Dodds added: "I'll tell you what, so if he doesn't win it, there are 19 other drivers, if any one of the other 19 drivers win it, we'll give a quarter of a million dollars to the charity of choice of the driver that does win it. It wouldn't be the worst day in the office to give a load of money to charity, but absolutely, he is nailed on to win that season."
Verstappen has such little confidence in the machine he has to drive at the moment that he says both titles are "unrealistic" for Red Bull. And in Baku he warned that it will take some time before the team can introduce changes that can get the RB20 back to its best.
But team principal Christian Horner isn't giving up without a fight and said: "There is everything to play for. Max in the drivers' championship has a solid lead but you can't take anything for granted with eight races to go and sprint races as well. We are super conscious of that. It only takes a couple of bad weekends - and big weekends from Lando - and suddenly it is an awful lot closer.
"The constructors' is a three-horse race. We are eight points ahead of McLaren but you can't discount Ferrari either. They have quietly snuck their way back into this. It is a flat-out fight over the last eight races. You never enjoy it when your cars aren't performing. But are we up for it? Absolutely. I have never seen a team more motivated and working as hard as it currently is."
