Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali says the sport must avoid a repeat of the confusing and controversial conclusions to the last two drivers’ championship fights.
Errors by the sport’s governing body, the FIA, overshadowed the two races in which Max Verstappen won his two titles. The sport was first plunged into controversy at the end of 2021 when FIA F1 race director Michael Masi broke its rules in arranging a final-lap restart at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which swung the outcome of the world championship.
While the outcome of the 2022 title fight was not as finely poised, the championship was nonetheless clouded in confusion again over the application of the sport’s rules. “These things shouldn’t happen” Domenicali admitted in an interview with Sky.
The FIA commenced an overhaul of its governing apparatus for F1 in the wake of the Abu Dhabi row. The changes arising from this were completed last month, and involved Steve Nielsen moving over from F1 to join the FIA in the role of sporting director.
Nielsen’s arrival showed the sport’s governing body and commercial rights holder are “working very close together”, said Domenicali, “because it’s important that we have people that are understanding the needs for all of us to work for a great sport. And we know that there has been a lot of discussion in that respect and that it is a very important to do a step forward.”
Domenicali is keen to avoid further controversies in the future. “We can understand what is the FIA what is FOM. We have Formula 1. Formula 1 as one brand and the credibility of this brand is really related to the one that has to do the perfect job in the role that they have.”
The FIA and F1 have found themselves at odds on a number of issues since Mohamed Ben Sulayem took over as president at the end of 2021.
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Liberty Media, the owner of F1, was particularly aggrieved by comments Ben Sulayem made on social media calling into question reports it was considering an offer from the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund to buy the series for $20 billion (£16.16bn). F1’s representatives described Ben Sulayem’s remarks as “unacceptable”.
The letter was “important to clarify the role of each of us,” said Domenicali. “I think that there’s no other things to comment because I think that as I said we need to stay focused on what we believe is right for the growth of the sport.
“We believe that even if it was just a…
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