If the 2024 season has taught F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali one key lesson, it is that it is impossible to predict with any certainty how things are going to turn out.
While many were talking back in March of Max Verstappen potentially winning all the races this year after his dominant start in Bahrain, it did not turn out that way at all.
In fact, with seven different winners from the first half of the season, something that has not happened since that crazy start to 2012, the stage is set for a wide-open battle for victories – and the constructors’ championship at least – after the summer break.
Domenicali never joined the doom-mongers at the start of the year, as he was always convinced that the combination of the cost cap and aerodynamic testing restrictions would eventually serve to close things up.
He has always been open-minded about things; aware that what is viewed right today may not be true for tomorrow. So just as Verstappen’s dominance was not set in stone from the off, so too must F1’s longer-term future be viewed as an ever-evolving thing.
Speaking in a wide-ranging interview with Motorsport.com to discuss the state of F1, Domenicali explains why he thinks there is a great opportunity now for grand prix racing to continue riding the wave of popularity that erupted following the Liberty Media takeover.
“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,” said Domenicali about his faith that 2024 would not be a damp squib of single-driver dominance.
“This will for sure continue until the end of 2025. This element of sporting action, and sporting drama, is definitely there.”
That reference to 2025 is intriguing because, amid all the excitement about the on-track battles now, there is the dark cloud on the horizon relating to the potential downside of new 2026 regulations.
F1 2026 FIA car renders
Photo by: FIA
Many within the paddock repeatedly point out that the best way to close the grid up is to keep the rules the same. The best way to blow things apart is by changing the regulations.
As F1 design legend Adrian Newey said earlier this year: “Just as everything’s starting to converge, and fans are starting to get what they want, we have got an even bigger change – because it’s the first time I can remember we’ve got a new PU and chassis happening at the same…
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