The sporting element of Formula 1 remains important to boss Stefano Domenicali, even if Liberty Media has faced criticisms in recent years for elements like sprint races.
While resistance to the Saturday sprint format has died down, it has not gone away completely – even if the format used this year is probably the best so far.
For Domenicali, although he thinks the sceptics should not be totally ignored, he has no doubts that sprints work. In fact, he is not against having up to eight per year – with potentially some spice added to the way the grid is made up.
“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,” Domenicali said.
“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. 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. 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 is doing. So these are always things to keep the mind alive, if I may say, with the intent to keep something always interesting.”
From his perspective, despite being an F1 purist at heart, Domenicali is one who supports the idea of reverse grids: “Personally, I would say, why not? 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.”
More action
What Domenicali thinks should be an idea for F1 is that every session on a grand prix weekend has a competitive element and a reason for fans to watch.
He especially does not understand why, in an era when teams are running endless simulations to perfect their set-ups, F1’s normal weekend format allows for three practice sessions that count for nothing beyond helping engineers.
“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 asked. “I mean, is that what people want to see?
“There is a huge investment [by teams] in simulation tools to do that. 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. We are doing the right things, and the excitement that we bring in the sprint race 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.”
The street circuit debate
One of the shifts that F1 has seen in the Liberty Media era has been in taking the series to the fans – which means more destination city races.
While some new additions such as Qatar are at permanent tracks, for other venues - like Las Vegas, Miami and Saudi Arabia - this has meant street circuits.
Now with Madrid and potentially Bangkok coming as future additions, the nature of the F1 calendar appears to be moving away from its traditional base of permanent venues.
While there is no escaping the fact there are more street circuits on the schedule, Domenicali does not think there are too many.
“I would say we want to be balanced,” he said. “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. 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 drive in the cities.
“As I said, the right answer, as always, is to be balanced. And that would be my approach.”
Movie opportunities
One of Liberty Media’s success stories since taking over has been the impact of Netflix's Drive to Survive in bringing a new audience to F1.
Allied to opening up social media channels, it has fuelled a new generation of fans that have helped grand prix racing’s popularity stay sky high after the post-COVID bounce.
But if Netflix’s impact was huge, Domenicali thinks that the new F1 movie - due to hit the big screens next June - will push it to another level.
Asked about the impact that the movie will have, he said: “Massive! I think that if Netflix was big, I think that the movie, and we discussed in Hungary the plan of commercialisation and promotion, will be massive. We're going to hit a target that is not yet present.”
Domenicali believes that F1 will work because FOM has been clear with the film makers that boundaries had to be pushed. It could not just be another motor racing movie tick box exercise.
“There was one element that was not negotiable: to do something unique,” added Domenicali.
“But in the context where we cannot touch the racing itself, because that's the sport, with different cuts, with different elements, we are doing a movie.
“So I do believe that you will be fascinated also to see the making of it, because people will realise the complexity that we are managing and the things that are behind it. It is really impressive.
“I do believe that it will be interesting on both sides, understanding that we were able to keep the live sport alive. But when you're going to see the movie, you're going to understand what it will be.”
Domenicali also suggests that some of the camera angle ideas that will be used in the movie could even be adopted by F1 itself for future onboards to boost its own coverage of races.
“We are developing together new technology of cameras, with different angles of view,” added Domenicali. “So I would say it’s a nice place to develop certain new technology that we're going to bring afterwards.”
What can’t be controlled
Now into his fourth year at the helm of F1, Domenicali feels he has helped push the series in the right direction – both for fans and his Liberty Media bosses.
“I don't want to say I, because I'm a team player,” he said. “I think that what we were able to do is to take F1 to a dimension that not so many people were thinking that we were able to do.
“So the growth that we are living, the beauty of what we are talking about, is what we should be really very proud of.
“I'm not watching the value of our capitalisation on the stock market. That's not me. That's for our shareholders, and which we need to thank Greg [Maffei] and Liberty Media on the trust that they have on me, and on us.”
But equally Domenicali does not see everything through rose-tinted glasses; and feels that there are challenges that need to be overcome.
“We are always in a push mode,” he said. “You are always happy, but never happy that way…”
And he offered a particularly fascinating answer, which circles back to the sustainability motivations of the 2026 rule changes, about topics that keep him awake at night - with memories of Imola's 2023 cancellation due to flooding obviously still very strong.
“I need to sleep because we are working a lot,” he smiled. “I'm not a guy that is concerned about something that we are not able to control, because that's something that I always feel - behind a problem, there is an opportunity.
“There are things that we cannot control, that are out of our control, that could have an impact. We are a worldwide sport.
“We know the political environment is delicate. We have been hit by certain things related to the so-called climate change.
“I think that if we are able to manage what we can control, I think we are in a very good spot.”
