20/08/2024
NEWS STORY
Doubling down on his support for the Sprint, F1 CEO, Stefano Domenicali also believes that reverse grids are the way to go.
Those new fans won over by Drive to Survive, the relentless social media push and next year's blockbuster movie starring Brad Pitt, won't know any different, but for those fans of a slightly different vintage the sport is heading in an entirely different direction to what they are used to, essentially pop concerts with a bit of racing in between.
One of many changes the new owners have brought to F1 is the Sprint, a topic which continues to divide fans and drivers alike.
Stefano Domenicali is a fan of the concept introduced just a couple of years ago and which now features at six races each season.
"I remember when we introduced them we had a lot of criticism from the purists, who we need to always listen to, even to the ones who are not happy with it," he tells Motorsport.com. "But I feel that now the thing has shifted completely the other way around. I think that the change we've introduced this year is the right one for many reasons, with separate qualifying and parc ferme. The flow is much better today.
"I think that we are not in a position to say that we're going to be like MotoGP, for example, with a full race calendar situation of sprints," he adds. "But there is margin to grow, maybe for one third of the calendar. That could be a possibility.
"And then, of course, there are certain topics that are always quite debatable," he continues. "We can really once again discuss if there is the need to reverse the grid, or half of the grid like what F2 and F3 are doing. So these are always things to keep the mind alive, if I may say, with the intent to keep something always interesting."
A favourite concept of the likes of Ross Brawn, is the reverse grid, another suggestion which will have the purist apoplectic at the very thought. Not so the F1 CEO.
"Personally, I would say, why not?" he says. "It's a lot of action. It is overtaking. You're fighting for points? Some people can say, 'Oh, it is a fake way of racing'. Fake? There is nothing fake related to what you believe is the right format to produce great action. So I would be interested to discuss that again. Yes."
Like Brawn, Domenicali, a former boss at Ferrari, is poacher turned gamekeeper, now heavily in favour of what would have been unthinkable in his previous role.
At Ferrari, like Brawn, Domenicali craved every moment of track time available in order to test his cars, openly lamenting the days when testing was a free-for-all. Now, in his gamekeeper role, he sees practice sessions as a waste of time.
"Is it a good entertainment for people coming already on a Friday to see cars going around the track just to prepare better for qualifying and the race?" he asks. "I mean, is that what people want to see?
"There is a huge investment in simulation tools to do that," he continues. "So my dream will be: every time that you go on the track, there is something to fight for. That's the nature of racing. That's the nature of the drivers, because they want to be the first every time, and that's why we should be aiming for this kind of objective in the future.
"I think that we are on the right path," he adds. "We are doing the right things, and the excitement that we bring in the Sprint is very clear, because a lot of promoters would like to have them. So now it's a good moment to see what is the best venue to have good action, and also the best place to be divided in the calendar to create the right frequency."
Another criticism in terms of the way the sport is developing is the move away from traditional racing circuits to street tracks, venues in destination cities where the great and the beautiful can attend, watch the race then enjoy a short limo ride to the next phase of the entertainment.
"I would say we want to be balanced," he insists. "We don't want to move from one side to the other side of the scale, but for us is it's crucial to have good racing. I remember one of the biggest criticisms that was on the table before the Las Vegas Grand Prix was, 'Oh, come on, you have a race where there will be no overtaking, no drama, no action, and so on'. Actually we proved that the ones that were not waiting to speak until after the event were totally wrong. We had an incredible race.
"For sure it is crucial to respect the historic venues," he adds. "But historic is not everything; historic is a good base to invest for the future.
"We are not worried to find the right solution, to have the right entertainment, the right fan, and everyone can have a different opinion. There are drivers who love the permanent tracks, others who love to try to drive in the cities. As I said, the right answer, as always, is to be balanced. And that would be my approach, for sure."