Domenicali: New F1 fans don’t mind Red Bull domination
Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali insists that new fans of the sport are not being put off by Red Bull's domination of the early races of the 2023 season.
The Italian also says that it’s too early to make a judgement on how the year will unfold, and he expects to see stronger competition and “great surprises” before it ends.
Some observers have suggested that fans attracted in the 'Drive to Survive era' during recent competitive seasons may not enjoy seeing one team dominating the results.
However, Domenicali suggests that one team winning is more likely to be disappointing for longer-term followers of the sport.
"First of all, if a team is faster than the others, congratulations, they did a better job than the others,” Domenicali told a meeting of F1 investors when asked if the FIA should review the situation.
“It's the duty of FIA as the regulator to make sure that they check the compliance of the car with the regulations.
“If you look at the others, the other teams are very close, very, very close. I'm very confident that with the budget cap, the situation will evolve in the best way for the better competition.
“But on the other hand, there is one thing that is interesting to see, in the new markets, where the new audience is coming in, that is not a really important factor.
“It's more let's say for the avid fans that if you see a car that is dominant, that's creating a level of less interest. For the new markets, for the new fans that are coming to the business, this is not really very important.
“And for us, it's important because we want to make sure there is a great competition in the ecosystem.
“But I would say if I look today, in the markets where we are growing, this factor is not so relevant as you think. And this is, in a way, very interesting to share. But that's the truth.”
Stefano Domenicali, CEO, Formula 1, and Mohammed bin Sulayem, President, FIA, on the grid
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Domenicali suggested that there’s time for the pecking order to change, citing the cost cap penalty that will continue to hit Red Bull's aero testing programme until October.
“For sure we see in the first three races Red Bull was very, very competitive,” he said. “I'm expecting the others to catch up.
“We need to wait and see the effect of the penalty that they had last year with the wind tunnel reduction. The championship is very long. And I think we're going to have good surprises before the end.”
Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei insisted that there is strong competition on track in 2023.
“The history of F1 is that there have been teams that had to run, Red Bull had a run, Mercedes had a long run,” he said.
“But you look behind that we're actually seeing more overtaking and more competition than ever.
“I think we can look statistically there has been more overtaking this year than in prior years. And I think you'll see more of that.
“So there is excitement on the track. And as Stefano rightly points out, it's three races, we'll see how the year goes.”
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