F1 CEO Answers Fan Concerns With Future Assurances

Saajan Jogia | Aug 11, 2024

May 4, 2024; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen (1) lead the field into turn one during the F1 Sprint Race at Miami International Autodrome. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports / Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports

Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has assured that until the end of 2025, the last year of the current era, fans will continue to witness close racing in F1, as opposed to the one-sided competition seen in the last two years.

One of the main concerns in the last two years has been about dissatisfied F1 fans, upset by the absence of close racing in the top positions, courtesy of Max Verstappen's dominance in his Adrian Newey-designed title contender. 2023 saw him secure victories in 19 out of the 22 races, while the other two were bagged by his teammate Sergio Perez, leaving out one for Ferrari's Carlos Sainz.

The dominance got to a point where Formula 1's social media interactions reportedly dropped significantly. Fortunately, the last few races of the current season display an optimistic picture for the sport, given the resurgence of Ferrari, McLaren, and Mercedes, which have made it possible for Red Bull to win only 7 out of the 14 races thus far.

Addressing the current excitement in the sport, Domenicali revealed he had predicted this early in the year, and the trend is set to continue until the new era of regulations takes over the sport in 2026. He told Motorsport.com:

“I'm very pleased to say what I said at the beginning of the year is exactly what is happening, when everyone was believing that I was saying that for political reasons.

“This will for sure continue until the end of 2025. This element of sporting action, and sporting drama, is definitely there.”

The 2026 regulations will see cars that are lighter, powered with an equal measure of electric and internal combustion power, and tuned in a way that promotes close racing. The CEO revealed the importance of the changing regulations and why they're often prioritized, despite their strong ability to influence the level of competition. He explained:

“There are always reasons why we are changing.

“First of all, because we need to be ahead of what we are doing.

“And this [2026] technical regulation was, at that specific moment that the decision was taken, related to a need for manufacturers to be involved in F1, with a different kind of technology that would need to be used. I do believe that is really fundamental and crucial.

“Plus, the fact that now we have sustainable fuel at the centre of this technical project will speed up the process of making sure that this new technology will be available for the mobility world quicker. It will develop a drop-in fuel with a lower price that will be beneficial to the market around the world. That I'm pretty convinced.

“As you know today, the price [of sustainable fuel] is much higher, but F1 has been always very good in speeding up the process and helping technology to go in the right direction. So that's really what I'm expecting, and I'm sure that everyone will work in this direction.”

Technology is evolving rapidly, which brings Domenicali to the question of whether the sport could witness another change in regulations in a few years, reflecting the sport's history of frequent changes to keep pace with innovation over the past few decades. He said:

“This is a point of: is really now the time to do in 2030 another step change?

“We are not in a position to answer today, because we need to wait and see how this new technology will come in and how this will be developed.

“Therefore, there will be a point at which we need to discuss about it, and we need to understand if the need of the manufacturers, the need of teams and the need of the engineering, is definitely there as it was when there was the need to change the regulation.

“The need for change normally is put on the table for two reasons. One is because we are the pinnacle of motorsport, and we are endorsing the top level of technology.

“The second in the past was that, because it was pretty clear: the objective was stopping a dominance period of cars. I remember when we were dressed in different colours [at Ferrari], so that's part of the game.

“But now with the new elements of regulation, budget cap and aerodynamics restriction, I think that this point is not anymore on the table of discussion.

“So the real thing is technological challenge in the future. Is it relevant that the change will be in such a short time cycle of five years? That will be the point of discussion for the future.”