Formula 1 has seldom been as close as it is now, while efforts are ongoing to reduce the gap at the top, Stefano Domenicali attributes the current disparity to Red Bull simply doing a much better job than their rivals these past two seasons.
While some quarters accuse the sport’s chief of turning F1 into FE (aka Formula Entertainment) Domenicali, a Ferrari man in his ‘former life’ in the top flight, heaped praise on the World Champions and is strongly opposed to changing the rules to reel them in. No BoP for F1!
In seven races so far this season RBR have been rampant, particularly Max Verstappen who won five races so far this season, with teammate Sergio Perez chalking up the other two. Blue dominates, with ease, topping both 2023 F1 World Championship standings (drivers’ and constructors’) by a massive, margin, increasingly uncatchable with every race.
The rest of the F1 paddock was caught sleeping last year by Adrian Newey’s design team and the fabulous Red Bull RB18 they concocted at Milton Keynes. Over this past winter, their rivals slumbered some more, except for Aston Martin it needs to be said, and we have what we have today.
Seven races into a 22-round season and already the F1 title race is decided, barring force majeure; again thanks to another Newey-inspired masterpiece: The RB19.
Is it fair to go against the very ethos of F1 and that is toy punishing genius and excellence? No says Domenicali in the latest Beyond the Grid podcast: “It’s not correct because we cannot be seen as a sport of manipulation, and not fair. I don’t envisage this kind of approach at all.”
“The gap is between one team and the others. While the others are very, very close, one team – Red Bull – did an incredible job. This is a sport of meritocracy so we need to consider that they did an incredible job. It’s true the gap seems to be big but we need to be prudent because we know in life things can change very quickly.”
Domenicali: I’m sure the other teams are watching, studying how they can catch up
F1 Aerodynamic Testing Restrictions (ATR) a complex formula aimed at restricting wind-tunnel time, which impacts negatively the World Champions (in this instance RBR) and favours the losers.
Domenicali explained: “It is clear the aim of what we want to do is to make sure this gap will stay as small as possible. I’m sure the other teams are watching, studying how they can catch up with [Red Bull] development in the context of the budget cap.
“It would be interesting to see if the development curve of the team that today is leading will slow down because at the end of the day, they did a better job in the shorter term. So that would be very interesting to see in the next couple of months.”
How close is F1 supposed to be? The eight years of Mercedes of almost total dominance (15 F1 titles in eight years) that followed Red Bull’s first period of dominance, aka the four years when Sebastian Vettel ruled the roost, is now followed by RBR Part 2.
But it’s worth noting ten years ago, at the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix, the difference between Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) starting from pole position and Paul di Resta (Force India) in tenth while two Sundays ago, if you factor out Verstappen (but leave Perez in the equation) the gap is only half a second.
Nevertheless, the history of F1 is packed with teams that dominated, nothing like Mercedes of recent times, but certainly, there were spells when Lotus, Williams and McLaren dominated several seasons
Ferrari had their own golden era of F1 dominance when Stefano dressed in Red for work
Domenicali, who lived the great Michael Schumacher era hands-on, as part of Maranello during his time there, pointed out: “F1 has been always a sport with cycles where teams were very dominant and then others came into the equation.
“So I would say our objective should be, strategically, to ensure that these cycles in the future will be shorter because that means that 20 cars, or whatever they are, will be really in the competition. This is what I would say as a commercial rights holder but also as a lover of the sport.”
As for the great debate about more than ten teams, Domenciali remains resolutely opposed to increasing the number despite calls for 11 or 12 teams from F1 fans, pundits, former drivers, current drivers and of course prospective F1 teams themselves, aka the Michael Andretti led bid..
Domenicali is on the side of the ten existing teams keeping it as it is. They want it to remain exclusive which means then of boasting about being the pinnacle of motorsport if potentially better teams are kept out and backmarkers remain as props in the show. In other words, a circus that never changes its clowns, and rolls out the same act time after time, no matter how bad there is no way to be fired from the inner circle of protection.
In the end, F1’s governing body the FIA will decide home many teams are good for F1; as for keeping the field as it is, Domenicali reasoned: “I think 10 teams are more than enough to create the show, or the business and the attention that we want to see on the track. There is an evaluation going on that involves the FIA and us making the right call for the future.
“This is something also connected to the future discussion that will happen with the renewal of the Concorde Agreement. We need to remember that this expires in 2025, so there is still a long time to go. Therefore the right answer is that in the next months, it will be a very important point of discussion that we need to take.
“Do we need to stay with 10, do we need to have more teams, or can we give the exemption to future possible teams that can be very strong to join? These are all topics that will be part of the discussion for the future,” concluded Domenicali.
F1 heads to the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend, Round 8 of the 2023 F1 World Championship, in Montreal.