Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has responded to criticisms drivers have made of changes introduced to the series in recent seasons.
The series is continuing to experiment with a sprint races, despite complaints from drivers such as Max Verstappen. Following the first running of a revised, standalone version of the format in Baku, Verstappen said F1 should “just scrap the whole thing.”F1 owner Liberty Media’s latest innovation, a pre-race driver introduced used in Miami, was also panned by several drivers. However Domenicali said the changes are being made for the overall benefit of F1’s business and drivers will benefit from that.
“I don’t want a society in which people cannot say what they want,” he told the Daily Mail. “But drivers sometimes need to remember that they are part of a broader picture. We don’t need to be selfish.
“They are part of this sport and this business, and it grows because we are thinking bigger. Sometimes being out of our comfort zone is not easy, but we cannot be lazy or complacent.”
F1 will continue to revise the sprint race format which was introduced in 2021. “We can review some of the specifics of the sprint weekend format at the end of the season once we have tried it out on the intended six occasions. We won’t have sprints every weekend, either.
“But we have a new audience and need to provide value for money every session, not let everyone drive around in circles for the sole benefit of engineers and drivers.”
Domenicali said he is not concerned about the possibility Verstappen may leave F1. The Red Bull driver is contracted to the team until 2028.
“He said he loved the sport and what he was doing,” said the F1 CEO. “He is world champion and is fighting for a third title. He was born in a car. I would say he is likely to stay longer than me. It’s not a problem.”
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Jere (@jerejj)
22nd May 2023, 7:33
While I get his point about the bigger picture, I still understand Max’s feelings, so he should be careful not to risk driving him away from F1 because of how big a hit that could be for viewing figures.
S
22nd May 2023, 7:43
F1 has ‘lost’ bigger names than Verstappen – and it’s still here, because F1 is much bigger than any person.
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
22nd May 2023, 17:23
Sure, but it has peaks and valleys like any other sport. And as much as people want to hate Verstappen the truth of the matter is he’s the first driver that is filling literal grandstands around the world since Schumacher’s Ferrari days. Sure, some drivers can fill a grandstand or even a whole circuit worth at their home Grand Prix, but it takes a pretty big draw to do it on a whole slew of tracks in various countries.
Paul (@frankjaeger)
22nd May 2023, 18:31
I don’t think its verstappen that’s filling the grandstands. Sure, he’s probably the most talented driver out there but I don’t think he’s liked to an outstanding degree. Certainly not a particularly charismatic character like Senna or Schumacher. I think the brand of F1 has just grown as a whole. I’d argue it’s more to do with Lewis than Max
BasCB (@bascb)
23rd May 2023, 11:37
Hm, but look at the amount of orange in the grandstands in most European races @frankjaeger. It’s not just talent, charisma and wins that brings full grandstands and viewing numbers (see how Vettel never really got Germans to the track, nor did Rosberg)
Illusive (@illusive)
24th May 2023, 8:02
Max has his own charisma and aura, thats why he is one of the most popular driver in the world. His brand is only going to increase with time. Having said that no one is bigger than the sport but what Max said has been echoed by lots of fans too so thats something right.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
22nd May 2023, 8:18
@jerejj
Liberty will regret ignoring the drivers like Verstappen, Hamilton, and Alonso when they exit F1 by the end of this decade. They likely have a hidden agenda to maximize profits over the next 5 years and present a false image of a successful business the American way in order to attract high bids. Otherwise, they’ll be burdened with substantial debts.
Mayrton
22nd May 2023, 7:58
Nothing will make Liberty deviate from their intend to optimize revenue. It might be possible their board doesnt even know what sport exactly is behind the revenue line item they see in their financial report. Something with cars or so. As regard to this particular man, he sold himself that’s clear. He is the one that doesnt realise he is part of a bigger picture. He and Liberty are just passing by. FIA is spinelessly letting this happen.
Alan Dove
22nd May 2023, 8:39
The FIA were pretty much forced by the EU to sell off the commercial side of F1. The FIA has many faults but there isn’t a huge amount they can do with regard to the commercial side of things.
Mayrton
22nd May 2023, 12:05
I can’t imagine they are not entitles to set up some ground rules towards the commercial party that has the broadcasting rights. And (but I am not knowledgeable at all about football) what about FIFA and UEFA? They seem to be both regulatory body and commercial party.
Alan Dove
22nd May 2023, 12:12
I don’t know the detail of FIFA and EUFA’s business. You can read up on EU’s decision here https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_01_1523
Mayrton
22nd May 2023, 12:45
Thank for this. A first step would then be to review this decision/open it up for evaluation. Without the EU or national governments I fear it won’t be possible to anchor some conditions towards the commercial rights holder.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
22nd May 2023, 12:24
That’s exactly why Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus are still in legal war with UEFA over the Super League who they accuse of having a monopoly over European football.
The funny thing about FIFA is that they have sided with the UEFA over European Super League but supported the exact same competition to be implemented in Africa which will take place this year, the African Super League.
Jimmy Cliff
22nd May 2023, 8:09
Domenicali should remember it is a sport first – he is being very arrogant reminding drivers of the bigger picture while he is failing himself.
“However Domenicali said the changes are being made for the overall benefit of F1’s business” – exactly the focus should be on sport not business.
Entertainment and money should not be placed first which they obviously are – the sport element has decreased a lot in last 10 years. Sprint races has nothing to do with the core part of Grand Prix racing.
“We don’t need to be selfish”
“But we have a new audience and need to provide value for money every session, not let everyone drive around in circles for the sole benefit of engineers and drivers.”
Who is being selfish – lower the racing fees and ticket prices and the real fans (not DTS fans) get great value for money.
Practices are there for a reason and have been there for 70 years – F1 is about extreme tech and development not just a race. I think Domenicali has forgotten about that.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
22nd May 2023, 11:41
+ 1
Mayrton
22nd May 2023, 12:31
This is so the essence of their thinking. And no, there is absolutely no need to provide value for money every session. There clearly is a desire from Liberty corporate side to do so, but that’s just their hobby horse. I never watch any training session of my favourite football team, but I do watch their game on Sunday. So yes, there is great, great value in letting everyone drive around for the sole benefit of engineers and drivers. It is called practice to enable a performance when it matters. It’s been around in since mankind at every single sport out there. Liberty is just unpleased they can’t squeeze (more)money out of it.
To me it is clear the sports needs a protective body/organisation/framework protecting it against commercialisation that is not in the interest of the sport. FIA is for whatever reason not suitable or capable. So maybe something above or besides FIA. It is time this is addressed. If we let commercial parties like Liberty run the show, there will be only a show and no sport in the end. Sport law however is commonly a national matter of individual countries. So within the EU this will be difficult to achieve. In the US it can be done, but they won’t be interested. I feel there is a need for legal action towards Liberty or towards the general intend displayed before we lose the sport entirely.
MichaelN
22nd May 2023, 13:46
It’s not just Liberty.
Ever since F1 claimed the rights to sell trackside advertising, venues have had to make up the money in other ways. By off-screen advertisement (like at Zandvoort), higher ticket prices, governmental subsidies, etc. For these venues, being able to raise prizes on Friday and Saturday would be fantastic, and I’m sure they’ve made that point to F1 many times over the years.
It also shouldn’t be overlooked that F1 teams are run by the marketing departments of their respective owners. Dr. Theissen had a good talk about that on a recent F1 Beyond the Grid podcast. Yes, a team needs engineers to make it work, but it’s ultimately a marketing exercise. No wonder that manufacturers are flocking back to sportscars now that all of it has been subjected to a Balance of Performance regime, and that Volkswagen and Ford are willing to participate in F1 under the ‘built to spec’ 2026 engine rules. A series in which all teams can win, and not much money has to be spent on development is a win-win for many of the participants, who see that as a current necessity, but not as their reason for being involved. If there are two or even three opportunities to ‘win’ in any given GP weekend, then that’s even better.
The problem with that is also obvious; oversaturation and perceived randomness of the results makes people lose interest and devalues the ‘wins’. It’s a tricky balance to get right.
floodo1 (@floodo1)
22nd May 2023, 14:20
This
Qeki (@qeki)
22nd May 2023, 15:00
I bet Domenicali is a smart person. So smart actually that he got the job. Even if Sebastian Vettel would take that job it isn’t going to change what is going to happen. Those words are not from the Domenicali we remember it is from the Domenicali who is the CEO of F1. I bet he doesn’t like that but there are jobs that need to be done. Drivers job is to drive. CEOs job is to do CEO stuff which sounds stupid but must be done. It is a totally different story how to change F1 CEO job to please the fans.
Qeki (@qeki)
22nd May 2023, 15:02
Blame the system not the one who are working on it. There aren’t jobs which don’t have a downside.
Qeki (@qeki)
22nd May 2023, 15:10
One part of being a CEO is making comments many people don’t like. Domenicali knew he had that coming when he signed up for the job.
Yellow Baron
23rd May 2023, 1:34
Yup. He may be a “CEO” but really he’s liberties employee
MacLeod (@macleod)
22nd May 2023, 8:11
Seems he doesn’t know Max very well if Max decide he has enough he goes to his other wishes which he planned to do after his F1 time. And certain Max would ignore any speak ban. (very bad English)
JezH79
22nd May 2023, 8:22
Maybe it is me, but these kind of comments get me worked up every time – Liberty sees F1 as a business model that needs growing – but we the fans (and drivers) just want pure racing. Stop putting your business model before the sport. In a way it serves them right that Red Bull are dominating and that their rules have backfired and we have processional races, no Drive To Survive sensational editing or Hollywood movie can safe them from that (unless they are willing to cull the Bull’s – but even then, it won’t stop the rules not working)…
S
22nd May 2023, 8:58
But that’s exactly what Liberty bought – F1’s commercial business. The FIA does the sporting and technical stuff, and Liberty do the selling and profit-making. If the FIA hadn’t been forced to sell off the commercial rights, you can bet they’d still have them themselves.
F1’s teams also want F1 to grow, as they make more money out of it too.
To a driver and any sensible, clear thinking viewer – a sprint race is just as much “pure racing” as a GP is. It’s just a different type of race.
What ultimately prevents there from being ‘pure racing’ in F1 is all the rules which allow some competitors to have substantially faster cars than others, and that those rules allow competitors to create cars which actively degrade the performance of rivals’ cars behind them. And to ‘solve’ that problem, they introduced DRS, which just further exacerbated the decline in ‘purity.’
Aerodynamic development is not just a tool, it is also a weapon.
I would question whether viewers do actually want pure racing…. The most popular races are the ones that typically have the most controversy – it’s pretty clear that unpredictability and entertainment value are also extremely important factors that no longer occur naturally even remotely often enough.
While the finale of the 2021 season upset many people, it was quite possibly one of F1’s most popular races ever…. That’s what Liberty are listening to – not the continuous complaints from people who frequent fansites and watch F1 regardless of how many times they say they’ll stop watching….
Viewing figures don’t lie.
JezH79
22nd May 2023, 10:56
But to me pure racing in F1 is just that minus the DRS nonsense. F1 is all about creating the best car – the engineering the creativity in design – added with the best drivers in the world driving on the limit. So be it if one team is dominating, it’s not always the most fun – but it is part of F1. If I want to see a spectacle with lots of crashes I will turn to NASCAR and maybe so should Liberty, the FIA is just a lapdog.
S
22nd May 2023, 11:40
The technical competition in F1 is just that – a competition.
But it isn’t sport.
F1 doesn’t (and can’t) claim to have the best drivers in the world, because there is simply no way to compare them to anything else. Everyone has a different car, and different cars require different skillsets to maximise their performance. They also all have different engineering teams doing setups, making it a completely uneven playing field.
Then there’s the plain and simple fact that the drivers aren’t even driving them on their own any more. The team constantly instruct the drivers to drive to a specific pace, when to push and when to back off, to manage this temperature and that pressure and wear rate, when to pit and which tyres to put on, which settings to use for the diff entry, mid corner and exit, and which energy deployment map to be using at specific times to control the harvesting and usage (based on mapping options entirely programmed by the team beforehand)….
The drivers simply don’t drive the cars alone and unaided (as per the rules) with such a level of data and communication intervention.
Again – competition, but certainly not sport.
DRS sucks, for sure. But it’s necessary because of other things that are wrong with F1 that make it not a pure sport. Pure sport, by definition, does not involve active machinery at all – a car itself is a ‘gimmick.’
Sport is the performance a human competitor puts in on the day, and how it compares either to the clock or to the other human competitors.
If one team is dominating, it isn’t fun – absolutely. So why would you want it to be that way, when it can so easily be changed? If domination is a part of F1, then much of the audience and their money (ie the lifeblood of the F1 business) will reduce their engagement, just as they did during the Hamilton and Schumacher eras.
Predictable, boring and monotonous events are a real problem.
A spectacle doesn’t need a lot of crashes – but it does need a close, sustained competition. It needs unpredictability and suspense. It needs controversy.
F1 needs to be fundamentally better in pretty much every way to sustain itself in the long term. 2021 shouldn’t be a flash in the pan – it should be the baseline from now on, and the bar should be raised every season.
Coventry Climax
22nd May 2023, 13:39
Well thank you. That -people with another opinion aren’t thinking clearly- is a massively arrogant thing to say. Now which FIA lapdog was it again that we heard saying something similar before?
There’s a fundamental flaw in this reasoning, which is that those rules were the same for all teams. All teams could build cars with these ‘substantially faster’ and/or ‘degrading’ characteristics. Noone was withholding them. As F1 is both a constructor (team) championship as well as a driver championship, you’re blaming the rules maker that some teams did a worse job than others in constructing their cars?
Past tense, so that’s how it used to be. Over the -say- last ten years or so, repression for teams that are better than others has become the norm. Any team limiting measures based on previous results, is mowing the field to keep all of the grass level. And that’s what you call pure racing? That’s spec racing by my book – not F1.
S
22nd May 2023, 16:07
Can a fact be arrogant? Fact and opinion are not the same thing.
A sprint race is – objectively – equally as pure, and exactly as much, “sport” as an endurance race is. The only difference is the duration.
There is no room for opinion here – only personal preference for a certain duration of race.
F1 is two ‘parallel’ competitions in one, yes – although one of them is actually entirely dependent and the other.
The best driver in the slowest car can not win the driver’s championship…
As long as the rules allow this to occur, then the competition (as both a WDC and a WCC) literally can not be ‘pure’. It is stacked in favour of those with the fastest machinery, the most experienced engineers, and/or those with the most advanced and accurate facilities and tooling.
Could any competitor attain those? Theoretically yes – but in reality? Nope, not a chance. Especially not while the biggest (and in particular, manufacturer) teams have such influence over the rules and administration of the entire series.
Having the fastest driver doesn’t win anyone anything unless it is paired with most, or all, of those non-sporting elements.
As I said above – just because there is a sporting element included does not make a technical competition and a sport one and the same. Sport and engineering are two totally separate and usually opposed concepts, even if both are inseparably tied together within one competition.
And yes, I do find spec series to be far more ‘pure’ in a sporting sense. The mechanical (non-sporting) variable is minimised, thus allowing human athletes to compete on a (more) level playing field. That is what sport is – human performance in competition, with minimal or no stacked variables for or against anyone.
Even if you don’t like it, spec series and ‘spec’ as a general concept are the present, and even more so the future. It’s long proven and most people prefer it. If that wasn’t true, there wouldn’t be so many manufacturers and professional teams competing in spec and BOP controlled series, would there.
Come to think of it, there wouldn’t be Ford or VW in F1 in the future either…. ;)
MichaelN
22nd May 2023, 13:35
Domenicali knows that isn’t true for the vast majority of viewers. People who actually want pure racing are much better served in dozens of other categories.
F1 is a spectacle, it’s entertainment, it’s a myth from the genius mind of Mr. Ecclestone in which the large manufacturers participate for their own benefit.
drmouse (@drmouse)
22nd May 2023, 14:11
I can only speak for my self, but I don’t want pure racing.
Let me explain: For there to be pure racing, other influences would have to be put aside. That would include the technical competition, which has been core to F1 since day dot (AFAIK). The technical competition interests me, and many others I know, just as much as (if not more than) the on-track action.
To make F1 “pure racing”, we would pretty much have to move it to a spec series. That would lose my interest instantly, no matter how good the on-track racing became.
So, while I agree with your overall sentiments (we want a sport/competition not a business), I cannot agree that I would want “pure racing”.
JezH79
22nd May 2023, 16:15
Agreed. I explained myself poorly – pure (F1)racing – for me is indeed the technical competition as much as the driving part. Just love both aspects, best engineers and designers with the best drivers pushing the limits.
Coventry Climax
22nd May 2023, 22:20
Maybe we should define the term ‘pure racing’.
To me, pure racing includes the fight for the best car, coming up with cleverest design, the development etc., as apparently it does for JezH79. And I think he expressed himself clear enough on that.
For you, @drmouse, however, pure racing means excluding those factors.
Messing with the rules only to force a show until the final race, does not really sound ‘pure’ to me. For that, ‘Equalised’ or ‘Handicapped’ comes closer I think.
Alan Dove
22nd May 2023, 8:44
The archaic marketing methods of Liberty are somewhat shielded by F1’s inherent and histroric value. That being said the not insignificant year on year decline in US viewership for the Miami GP hasn’t gone unnoticed. Maybe the emporer’s new wardrobe is actually a little bare and drivers are the first to notice.
S
22nd May 2023, 9:00
Year on year decline in viewership for the Miami GP….???
There have only been two of them! Every event goes up and down from year to year.
Alan Dove
22nd May 2023, 9:20
In a new market seeing an immediate decline is not something that will be seen as natural ebb and flow. Liberty have gone ultra aggressive trying to break into the US market and want growth. To see a dip already is warning sign
S
22nd May 2023, 10:23
The USA is not a new market to F1.
And 2 events is not a representative number to take any meaningful data from – unless the decline is truly massive.
Which it simply isn’t.
Did you take the increase in ticket sales at the event into consideration?
Alan Dove
22nd May 2023, 10:53
Ticket sales are published by event hosts, so I take those with a dose of skepticism. Also we don’t know the exact revenue generated.
A 20% drop is significant in TV viewers by the way. It’s probably larger if we consider the base level of viewers in the US which iirc is around 800,000 prior to Liberty’s involvement. If we deduct the already existing fan base from the equation and assess the drop of the ‘new viewers’ the drop is more like 40%.
It might go up next year, who knows. But anything above 20% is beyond the natural ebb and flow.
S
22nd May 2023, 11:12
“Prior to Liberty’s involvement” was almost 6 and a half years ago. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge in that time.
Anyway, I don’t think it’s at all unreasonable to suggest that numbers may naturally drop year on year given the state of F1 as a whole at the moment and the fact that the first year had obvious novelty value as people learned what it was and how it differed from the alternatives. These factors are true of any event anywhere in the world – not only of motorsport but also of any other entertainment activity.
I expect the numbers from this and every other event in the future to be predominantly reliant on the quality of the product people are paying to see – more so than the event itself.
Great races and championships attract audiences – poor ones drive them to other interests.
grat
22nd May 2023, 16:20
The first year of a brand new GP always has inflated numbers for attendance and viewership, simply because it’s new.
A drop between year 1 and 2 is not unexepected.
SadF1fan
22nd May 2023, 9:03
Sounds like Enzo Ferrari talking down to his drivers and how they have the privilege to drive his holy cars…
How Dominicale can say it’s a sport and at the same time say every session needs to be monetized is baffling. And shows what the core problem is.
F1 is a “sport” where no competitor is allowed to actually train in real life. It’s no longer about watching feats of excellence.
Sprint races, practice sessions at different times from the competitive sessions, and a completely locked down parc fermé show its no longer about achieving excellence aswell.
Mayrton
22nd May 2023, 12:38
This! Staggering. The sport is in high need of regulatory intervention.
Alan Dove
22nd May 2023, 13:08
It was a major regulatory intervention forced the FIA to sell F1 and create the scenario we have.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
22nd May 2023, 14:39
+ 1
Coventry Climax
22nd May 2023, 13:48
Nice analogy. Enzo would have been right had his cars consistently and continously won each and every race they competed in, but he was arrogant enough to ignore the fact they didn’t.
Completely agree with what you say.
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
22nd May 2023, 9:52
Wait until Stefano pulls out his commemorative bone saw.
Dex
22nd May 2023, 9:57
Who do we watch F1 for, drivers or this guy? Who is easier to be replaced, Verstappen or this guy? Irony is, this guy will leave the sport much sooner, as they obviously just want to boost the numbers, increase value and sell those rights before the balloon explodes. He likes to insult our intelligence though, I can see his future in politics. People like him have already ruined most popular sports, like football or basketball. I stopped watching those over 10 years ago, in my early 20s I had enough. I can abandon F1 as well, many of us can and will. But he doesn’t care as Liberty will be gone. They aren’t selfish, but pure altruists.
D
22nd May 2023, 10:01
“But we have a new audience and need to provide value for money every session, not let everyone drive around in circles for the sole benefit of engineers and drivers.”
No you don’t.
Because value for money is already there. And that is seeing racecars on track.
Who is broadcasting football or basketball or tennis practices? No one.
Do thousands of fans come and watch them live? No they don’t.
It is pretty much only Formula 1 and few other racing series (Moto GP, Indy…) that attract that kind of audience and interest for practice sessions and make profit from it.
How much more do you need?
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage (@davedai)
22nd May 2023, 10:01
It’s great news for the drivers.
Teams pay them to get their cars/technology up as high as possible.
Now Domenicali insists they are part of the show, the revenue generating, monetizing thing and must perform for F1/Liberty. Soooooo
time to pay them their fair share of the revenue they generate by exposure and racing.
Come on George get cracking and get the drivers share of revenue sorted say before Vegas.
mrfill (@mrfill)
22nd May 2023, 10:32
“I don’t want a society in which people cannot say what they want,”
It sounds rather like that is exactly what you want
Abies de Wet
22nd May 2023, 10:55
This Idiot & Liberty Needs to Go ASAP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MacLeod (@macleod)
23rd May 2023, 8:12
Liberty owns everything so they aren’t going but Domenicali can and will go.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
22nd May 2023, 11:57
I do wonder what F1 would be like without the drivers speaking out. F1 needs drivers with big characters and opinions who are willing to speak out and quite often it seems agree with what the more traditional fans are thinking. I do wonder what the sport will look like once the likes of Hamilton, Alonso and even Verstappen have gone. Verstappen is much younger of course but he’s a big character and of course he has the kudos of being a world champion.
It seems that the younger generation of drivers coming through don’t have or at least are much less willing to express any opinions that don’t agree with the official line or tone set by the sport. It’s all a bit sterile and I wonder if this will continue when they are more established. They seem to have been taught or coached not to say anything but I do accept it might be because they are younger and have not reached the top.
Hopefully the sport will survive the Liberty years and emerge still looking like something we recognise from years gone by with it’s spirit and fundamentals in tact.
tielemst
22nd May 2023, 13:01
I think the drivers need far less reminding of where they are at, than you need reminding it’s a sport you’re running and not a drama TV-show. At least you’ve got Guenther Steiner who understands the zero attention span needed formula you’re trying to create.
BasCB (@bascb)
22nd May 2023, 13:32
As ever a line like this
always makes the part before the “BUT” lose any meaning.
MichaelN
22nd May 2023, 13:53
Often, but he’s not wrong. Nobody would care about Russell if he was driving in an LMP2 car in the ELMS, or about Verstappen if he was doing the Dakar rally once a year. These guys owe their status and financial success to the series they’re participating in for a few years, and which is the world’s largest motorsport series not because of the drivers, but because of all the work that’s been done over the course decades to make it special.
Coventry Climax
22nd May 2023, 22:31
That is debateable. I think they owe their success to themselves; their commitment, talent and ofcourse the environment that allowed them to pursue careers in motorracing in the first place. They don’t owe it to Liberty or the FIA.
That would be similar to a politician owing his success to parliament, instead of to his ideas and the voters that share those ideas. This exactly, is true for totalitarian countries, and it sure seems Domenicali would like to see F1 head in that direction. I don’t.
BasCB (@bascb)
23rd May 2023, 11:48
As Coventry Climax rightly points out, these drivers are where they are not because they “owe their status and success to the series”, they have put in a lot of both talent, but also dedication to win.
I would harbour a guess that if Verstappen had been focussed on Ralleye (instead of F1), we would now be seeing WRC with boatloads of Dutch fans all over the place and on a run of popularity. Remember the years of Colin McRae? Or the top years of guys like Sainz, Loeb? Sure, it might not have been AS popular and with as much money going round as F1, but the top drivers still attract a lot of attention, sponsorships and fans.
F1 would not be as popular without guys like Verstappen, Hamilton, Alonso and their like to attract the fans in droves, that goes for all sports. And the most boring years with regards to hearing from drivers were when teams restricted their drivers to a great extent in what they could say and do. It only helps the sport when drivers are free to express themselves, indeed as remarked above, exactly like it is in the wider world out there – freedom makes people happier and tends to work better at enabling the best ideas and talents to express themselves.
Qeki (@qeki)
22nd May 2023, 14:52
It’s like in any working place now. Boss wants to make money and every other people need to make that even though they don’t like it.
MichaelN
22nd May 2023, 15:32
Everyone in F1 loves making money.
When Ricciardo thought he could command a 10 million annual salary, I’m sure he wasn’t really thinking that driving 23 Grand Prix was somehow comparable to the annual work of some 350 average working people in the UK. But hey! If someone is willing to pay that kind of money, just about nobody would turn it down.
That’s where Domenicali is right. That money is coming from the fact that F1 has built itself up to be, by far, the most popular and thus lucrative motorsport series in the world. That’s worth protecting – not just for Liberty, but for everyone involved.
Coventry Climax
22nd May 2023, 22:37
Nope. That was built by the drivers and the teams just as much, and it took years.
Sure, when the oportunistic moneymakers come in, they gladly forget that heritage to claim it’s all just their own doing.
grat
22nd May 2023, 16:22
F1 Drivers: This is a gimmick, and bad for the sport.
Domenicali: These drivers are being selfish and only thinking of themselves!!
Ok, Stefano… sure. Whatever.
S
22nd May 2023, 16:33
F1 drivers get paid in excess of $40m per year to play in this sandpit….. Where does that money come from?
Stefano makes a perfectly valid point, when you think about it.
Compare with drivers participating in other series. F1 is defined by its commercial success.
grat
22nd May 2023, 22:02
You, much like Stefano, may have missed the point. The drivers understand the sport– They almost certainly, at some point as a child, went “That’s COOL!” and decided they wanted to be an F1 driver. They know what good racing looks like, and several of them feel that the sprint races add nothing to the sport.
And when they say “this is bad for the sport”, they’re not saying “Waaaah, I’m not making enough money”, they’re saying “This is NOT HELPING THE SPORT”– and Demonicali, who doesn’t want to hear any criticism of the sprint races, responds by calling them selfish.
I’m not sure that Sprint races add anything to the sport. I’m not sure the Miami grand prix adds anything (and I live in Florida). I’m not even totally convinced that the cost cap is a good idea for the long term, and I think the current restrictions are too restrictive. I’m so much of a pessimist about Demonicali and Liberty’s strategy, that unless they make major changes for 2026, the sport’s going to be in serious trouble by 2030.
Domenicali (yea, I know how to spell his name) doesn’t want to hear criticism, because the decisions being criticized are coming off his desk. He, Liberty and the FIA are trying to turn this into NASCAR with the “Car of the Future”– and NASCAR’s been going to hell ever since.
Oh, and the driver’s salaries are usually paid for by advertising sponsors, but that’s a different argument.
Coventry Climax
22nd May 2023, 22:40
Here we go again. Apparently anyone with a different opinion isn’t thinking.
Cut the arrogant feacal excrements man!
sam
22nd May 2023, 17:01
Remember its a product now.
Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
22nd May 2023, 18:20
A spec car series can give the show that Stefano wants. F1 is about engineering and always will be. No Adrian Newey can be found in any spec car series.
MichaelN
22nd May 2023, 18:54
Adrian Newey is, sometimes, good at finding answers to F1’s self-imposed questions. But making fast cars isn’t hard, nor does it require an annual 120 million development budget.
F1 isn’t so much about engineering, but rather about marketing. The engineering is just there to make the cars with the right logos on them win. (As noted: the F1 Beyond the Grid interview with Dr. Theissen goes into this in some detail from someone who was right there at the very top of the BMW program). All the better when that allows the manufacturers behind said logos to use F1 in their larger campaigns. It’s why in the late 2000s the FIA/ACO made Diesel the preferred type of engine at Le Mans with regulatory adjustments (there wasn’t anything special about Diesel per se), and why F1 pivoted towards complex hybrid engines in the early 2010s. That’s what the marketing departments wanted. But F1 is fast running out of areas it can open up for such marketing-related development, especially under its ever increasing limits on development. That it has kept rolling from one era of domination into another for the past 15 years is the proverbial writing on the wall.
Coventry Climax
22nd May 2023, 22:45
Ah, that explains it, the other teams just pick someone of the street to do that job, much cheaper!
We must punish Red Bull for hiring an expert! They shouldn’t be allowed to do that! They’re cheating! Budget cap!
Only hiring mediocre designers is allowed!
Coventry Climax
22nd May 2023, 22:53
That is simply not true. The Diesel combustion cycle has – and not only for endurance racing – many advantages over the Otto (gasoline) engine, but unfortunately also a major, process inherent disadvantage: NOx pollution.
Do your homework please, before making such claims.
MichaelN
23rd May 2023, 16:22
The diesel engine regulations at Le Mans came with significant privileges for said engines, which drew plenty of criticism at the time and eventually helped reduce the field to the diesel engined Audi-Peugeot duopoly.
Diesel engines do have some advantages, but there is also a reason they were and are not common in motorsport, even in endurance racing. It took regulations to help, and once the marketing-push from the msnufacturers disappeared, so too did the diesel engines.
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
22nd May 2023, 19:34
“Bigger is better, and biggest is best, just like the dinosaurs.” -W. S. Burroughs
Domenicali should seriously listen to the drivers opinions, if for no better reason than because they are usually the biggest fans of the sport too (and their opinions usually align with other longtime fans). Liberty is looking at the bottom line, when they should be looking at the high water mark. I suspect that F1 will survive Domenicali and his ilk, but he has an opportunity to do the right thing, rather than merely enriching the (American) shareholders, and running this sport into the ground.
Mayrton
23rd May 2023, 13:21
This. You would think a man with his background and previous roles performed would be the voice of reason and seeker for middle ground towards an overenthusiastic American owner that seems insensitive to legacy or culture. That is what we expect from a CEO; not to be a follower and boss/shareholder pleaser, but a leader. I feel we’ve seen countless examples of good functioning things in the world that are .. well .. less beautiful after US companies brought their culture in. At the risk of oversimplifying things and being much stereotyping, but it seems goals and means are concepts they can’t tell apart anymore and money has become the sole goal for every endeavour encountered. Pity.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
23rd May 2023, 5:08
The big picture? be nice if there was one but at the rate they keep fiddling with things, I dont think there actually is one as yet.