Stefano Domenicali claims Red Bull's dominance is not putting new Formula 1 fans off
- Nick Krige
- 17 April 2023
Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has rejected rumours that new fans of the sport are being put off watching because Red Bull have been very dominant so far in 2023.
Red Bull finished one-two in both of the first two races of the year with Max Verstappen winning the first and Sergio Perez taking the victory in Saudi Arabia.
Verstappen won again in Australia, with Perez finishing in fifth, with Red Bull also grabbing pole position in all three races.
There have been fears and rumours that new fans brought into the sport through things like Netflix series Drive to Survive were losing interest because of the lack of real competition and excitement.
However, Domenicali says nothing could be further from the truth.
"There is one thing that is interesting to see, in the new markets, where the new audience is coming in, that is not a really important factor," he said, according to Motorsportweek.
"It's more, let's say, for the avid fans that if you see a car that is dominant, that's creating a level of less interest. For the new markets, for the new fans that are coming to the business, this is not really very important.
"And for us, it's important because we want to make sure there is a great competition in the ecosystem.
"But I would say if I look today, in the markets where we are growing, this factor is not so relevant as you think. And this is, in a way, very interesting to share. But that's the truth.
"If a team is faster than the others, congratulations, they did a better job than the others."
Domenicali also addressed the possibility of the FIA bringing new rules to potentially slow Red Bull down, saying it would only do so if they were breaking the rules.
"It's the duty of FIA as the regulator to make sure that they check the compliance of the car with the regulations," he said.
"If you look at the others, the other teams are very close, very, very close. I'm very confident that with the budget cap, the situation will evolve in the best way for the better competition."
F1's CEO is confident Red Bull's sanctions for breaching the cost cap in 2021, including having less time to test in the wind tunnel, will have a bigger effect on the team as the season goes on.
"For sure we see in the first three races Red Bull was very, very competitive," he said. "I'm expecting the others to catch up.
"We need to wait and see the effect of the penalty that they had last year with the wind tunnel reduction. The championship is very long. And I think we're going to have good surprises before the end."
