F1 CEO Under Fire Over Potential Race Change: "Only Cares About Show And Money"

F1 fans have hit out at the CEO.

F1 fans have hit out at Formula One CEO Stefano Domenicali for considering removing the free practice sessions from a Grand Prix race weekend. 

Domenicali has expressed an interest in removing the free practice sessions from a race weekend in order to make the racing more exciting for the viewer. He said:

“I am a supporter of the cancellation of free practice sessions, which are of great use to the engineers, but that the public doesn’t like.”

🎙️| Stefano Domenicali, F1 CEO:

“I am a supporter of the cancellation of free practice sessions, which are of great use to the engineers, but that the public doesn’t like.”

Your thoughts? 🤔

— Ferrari News 🐎 (@FanaticsFerrari) March 27, 2023

Fans have been giving their thoughts on the idea on social media, with some hitting back at the CEO arguing that the race weekend is not all for "show and money" but for the actual sport. 

One fan responded to @FanaticsFerrari, who posted the comment from the CEO, writing:

"He only cares about show and money, the sport comes after for him!"

He only cares about show and money, the sport comes after for him!

— 𝐒𝐈𝐋𝐕𝐈𝐀 ¹⁶🐎₄₄ (@REDEMOTI0N) March 27, 2023

Another fan posted, joking that if this move went ahead it would end up with drivers turning up on the Sunday. They responded:

"Formula 1. The only professional sport where sport where participants are not allowed to practice! If this continues, drivers will arrive on Sunday, pull a name out a hat and start the race in that order 10 minutes later!!!"

Formula 1. The only professional sport where sport where participants are not allowed to practice! If this continues, drivers will arrive on Sunday, pull a name out a hat and start the race in that order 10 minutes later!!!

— Richard Jackson (@richardaj) March 27, 2023

There has been an emphasis on making the sport more exciting for the viewer since the release of Netflix's Drive to Survive. However, fans are still keen on seeing the full conventional race weekend. Someone else commented:

"F1 is about engineering... not only about drive to survive."

F1 is about engineering... not only about drive to survive.

— Diego Zambelli (@DiegoZambelliS) March 27, 2023

Another Twitter user wrote that it would disadvantage teams who do not "have the best simulation facilities". They wrote:

"That would be nuts. With the limited amount of testing it might lead to really screwing up the packing order at some events. Most probably it would still mean that RB will be at the top, but would also penalize teams which don’t have the best simulation facilities."

That would be nuts. With the limited amount of testing it might lead to really screwing up the packing order at some events. Most probably it would still mean that RB will be at the top, but would also penalize teams which don’t have the best simulation facilities.

— Razvan Florea (@Shorirazv) March 27, 2023