Max Verstappen offered Formula E Gen4 test 'anywhere'

Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds has offered Max Verstappen a test in its Gen4 car "anywhere", following his recent comments in Bahrain. 

During the first of two three-day tests in Bahrain, Verstappen described the new F1 cars as like "Formula E on steroids", due to the significance of energy management. 

It is not just Verstappen who has complained about the new F1 regulations, with the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso having also been highly critical. 

A general complaint has been having to lift and coast on a push lap, something which has never been seen in F1 before. 

Verstappen comparing F1 to Formula E was not viewed as a negative by Dodds, who has a strong relationship with the Dutchman. 

Instead, he saw it as Verstappen simply addressing the style of racing he wants to be involved in.

"What I hear him saying is, I just want to get in and drive that car on the limit, and this isn't allowing me to do it," Dodds told RacingNews365. "It's forcing me to drive in a different way, and I don't enjoy it as much.

"If I wanted to drive more strategically in that way, I'd have come to Formula E. I wouldn't do that in Formula 1, and that's what I read him saying.

"Now, of course, what Max won't be so aware of is what's going to happen in this series over Gen4 and into Gen5, where the powertrain technology will allow the car to get faster and faster and faster and faster, and the style of racing to be more and more unleashed in the way that he's used to.

"If Formula 1 adds more electric, it's going to be slower and slower. They're just the physics. You can't add the weight and the car get faster."

Verstappen offered Gen4 test

It is not only F1 which has welcomed new regulations, with Formula E to also see new cars introduced at the end of the the year – the Gen4. 

Formula E's new car has been undergoing significant private testing by the FIA and manufacturers, and is expected to be as quick if not quicker than a current Formula 2 car. 

Dodds is eager for Verstappen to test the car, so the four-time world champion can discover just how far Formula E has come.

Asked what his message to Verstappen would be, Dodds told RacingNews365: "If you're asking about Max Verstappen specifically, very simply, I think Max has a view of what Formula E was.

"It will be interesting to get Max's review of what Formula E is becoming, and the first time to do that would be in a Gen4 car, because that's the big step change in cars for us.

"So my invitation to Max would always be: no press, no TV cameras, nothing.

"I'll put a car on a track anywhere in the world you want, and you can have it for a day and do what you want with that car, on the proviso that you do one thing, which is, at the end of it, as Max would always do, just give me an honest point of view on what you think about it. Because I think he'd be pretty impressed with where it's heading."