Formula 1 chief Stefano Domenicali has recently shown his concern about the negative side of Max Verstappen and Red Bull’s F1 dominance. The F1 honcho said that the utter dominance of the defending champions is hurting the fans’ interest.
However, the F1 boss put some more clarification and said the dominance is hurting the old fans or “avid fans“. Whereas it has next to little effect on the new fans, who just joined the rollercoaster of the most popular form of motorsport.
Speaking at the Liberty Media conference where F1 investors were present, the former Ferrari boss conveyed, “It’s more for the avid fans that if you see a car that is dominant, that’s creating a level of less interest.”
Thanks to Netflix’s Drive to Survive and social media, the sport has seen a huge influx of fans in the last couple of years. While the old fans are habitual to seeing Mercedes domination post-Hybrid era, or Red Bull’s dominance from 2010 to 2013, for new fans it’s all new.
How dominant is Red Bull?
Verstappen‘s squad has been absolutely dominant after the new rules and regulations were set out in 2022. The Austrian team won 20 races out of 25 outings, which is a staggering 80 percent.
Apart from winning 17 out of 22 races in 2022, the Bulls have picked up three wins out of three in 2023. Most importantly, all the wins have come from the pole positions, which says the nature of the dominant force Max Verstappen and co. is.
The RB-18s and its successor RB-19s by Adrian Newey and squad have been mighty. With superior straight-line speed, cornering ability, and maximum DRS advantage, its competitors were nowhere near to it in recent times.
Domenicali wants rivals to catch up
One-team dominance is never good, be it any sport. The same goes for F1 and this is why Stefano Domenicali wants teams like Aston Martin, Ferrari, and Mercedes to catch up with Red Bull.
While he congratulated the defending champions on their fabulous work, it’s certainly not good for business, the 57-year-old conveyed. This is because the fans want to see a close contest, which is definitely not the case in 2023.
Domenicali, however, is expecting a comeback from rival teams. Since Red Bull will have the effect of the 2021 cost cap penalty and hence, there is no way the season is over with just three races down.
