Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali says the confirmation of Madrid as the host of the Spanish Grand Prix from 2026 onwards does not mean Barcelona will definitely drop off the calendar. Madrid was announced as becoming the home of the Spanish race …
Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali says the confirmation of Madrid as the host of the Spanish Grand Prix from 2026 onwards does not mean Barcelona will definitely drop off the calendar.
Madrid was announced as becoming the home of the Spanish race from 2026 until 2035 inclusive on Tuesday morning, building a part-street circuit around the IFEMA Madrid events and exhibition venue. While the first year of the contract clashes with the final year of the deal to race at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Domenicali says the current host could still remain on the schedule.
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“For the avoidance of doubt and to clarify here, the fact we are in Madrid is not excluding the fact we could stay in Barcelona for the future,” Domenicali said. “Looking ahead, there are discussions in place to see if we can really extend our collaboration with Barcelona, with whom we have a very good relationship, for the future.”
Domenicali says the long-term deal for Madrid allows it to invest heavily in a large event, with a promise of creating a capacity of 140,000 by the mid-point of the ten-year contract.
“It’s great news for Formula 1 as it shows once again that there is strong appetite around the world for our sport. It shows that at a moment where Europe is perceived to be a place that is not ready to invest in our sport, Madrid and others are showing it is.
“They have presented a fascinating project, one that will be built in the next couple of years and a project that is considering the fans and their whole experience, from their travel to the whole event experience. The proposition we received from the promoter was great. Since the first day, it has been an open discussion of what this event can be.
“I’m very pleased that it’s a deal that takes us to 2035 – it’s a long time. This is the objective as F1, with either new or more established promoters. It allows everyone involved to plan the future and invest in the future as it is a guarantee for the promoter, for our partners, for our teams and for our sport. It gives everyone long-term visibility.
“If you look at the past, the renewals were two years, three years or five years maximum. Now all our new deals are going in the direction of being very long. And if they are short, there is a reason.”
The F1 boss adds the interest from so many venues gives him a welcome challenge of trying to balance demand with the calendar.
“Spain was a market that just a couple of years ago, was not in the centre of our eyes. Now it is very important. We signed a new deal with Spanish broadcaster DAZN until at least the end of 2026.
“It’s a nice problem to have, to have multiple cities – some in the same country – wanting to host a grand prix. It shows the value of our proposition. But we need to keep focused on the reason for our success and make sure we aren’t complacent.”
“99% show, and 1% sporting event.” Max Verstappen’s description of the Las Vegas Grand Prix – when asked for the balance – was a striking quote on Wednesday night. The Dutchman said it with a smile but was totally serious, as he’s more than happy …
“99% show, and 1% sporting event.”
Max Verstappen’s description of the Las Vegas Grand Prix – when asked for the balance – was a striking quote on Wednesday night. The Dutchman said it with a smile but was totally serious, as he’s more than happy giving his personal opinion. But it was delivered with a refreshing lack of ego, as he also admits he wouldn’t listen to himself if he was running Formula 1.
“I think in the U.S. in general it’s always a little bit more busy for us, but I don’t think that is the biggest problem (in Vegas) … There is no problem, but it’s just not really my thing.”
And there’s already been a lot of what is not really Verstappen’s thing this week.
The most obvious offering was the Netflix Cup golf tournament that dominated Tuesday, as Netflix brought some of the big names from Drive to Survive – or at least those who play golf – together with four PGA Tour stars to compete in a live televised event.
Perhaps it was naive to think it would be anything other than massive, but the scale was still surprising as the entire golf course at the Wynn felt like it had been set-up for a major. The quality of the production, the standards of facilities and the involvement of The Sphere in the background all added up to an impressive undertaking with thousands of fans in attendance.
That doesn’t mean it’s for everyone, though. Another example was the unveiling of Red Bull’s livery, that really did need me to justify to my wife that the reason I was in a nightclub in the early hours of the morning was for work purposes…
Taking over Omnia – one of the biggest and most iconic clubs in Vegas – Red Bull hid a car in the ceiling, and after 90 minutes of the venue operating as a club (with Red Bull branding dominating, of course) the car was then lowered above the crowd to display the unique design at midnight.
And then stumbling out at 2am, you were greeted by the sight of teams and drivers walking the track at the only time it was closed for them to do so overnight. It’s a bizarre schedule.
Those same drivers then had to make an appearance during the lavish opening ceremony on Wednesday, when multiple music acts played on stages on the pit straight before the grid was introduced – the drivers rising up through a platform to wave at the crowd and then disappear again.
“We are just standing up there, looking like a clown,” was Verstappen’s verdict.
“I guess they still make money if I like it or not, so it’s not up to me! But I’m also not going to fake it, I just always voice my opinion on positive things and negative things. That’s just how I am. Some people like the show a bit more, I don’t like it at all. I grew up just looking at the performance side of things and that’s how I see it as well.
“So for me, I like to be in Vegas, but not so much for racing.”
Lewis Hamilton wants races to be more impactful. Bagnall/Motorsport Images
While F1’s current world champion is not a fan of the extravagance surrounding the race – and he was far from alone – the man whose records he is chasing had a different view of the event.
“It’s pretty cool,” Lewis Hamilton counters. “I’ve seen Casino like a thousand times – the movie obviously – it’s amazing for them to be here. I think it’s something we spoke of dreaming of having a race here many years ago, and it’s very surreal to be here. It’s exciting. It’s such an incredible place. Great energy, great buzz.”
Hamilton was full of praise for the way Liberty Media has managed to expand F1’s reach and footprint to such an extent that a race in Las Vegas can be executed, even if the racing part has not actually had that much focus so far.
“The sport continues to grow. It is a business, ultimately. I think you’ll still see good racing here. It’s just such a big country, to really tap into the market here and really captivate the audience here, we needed to have at least two races. One wasn’t enough.
“This is one of the most iconic cities there is and unique cities that they have here amongst the other amazing cities they have in America. All the lights, the show, it is a big show for sure. It’s never going to be like Silverstone. But maybe over time, the people in the community here will grow to love the sport just as we’ve had the privilege of growing up and experiencing, maybe.
“Maybe the track will be good, maybe it’ll be bad. It was so-so on the sim – it’s definitely not Silverstone.
“I don’t know. Don’t knock it until you try it. I hear there’s a lot of people complaining about the direction that Stefano (Domenicali) and Liberty have been going, but I think they’ve been doing an amazing job.
“The sport is growing massively. It’s going to grow even more once we get this movie out. I’m onto Stefano because I really want to get the race in South Africa or in Africa – if it’s not South Africa, it will be somewhere else there hopefully, because we’re in all the other continents – and then we’ve just got to think about the impact that we have in these different places.
“It’s not just a circus that comes here and then we leave. We should look at how we can positively impact the community here, particularly like the kids. Bringing the kids to Austin, I brought 60 young girls to the circuit from local communities that would never have the opportunity to get to the track. Hopefully now they’re inspired to be engineers, go back to school and tell all their friends. We’ve got to make sure we’re also doing stuff like that.”
Perhaps it’s Hamilton’s final point that needs to be taken most seriously. This is a race that is completely geared up to try and make money – to such an extent the drivers’ attendance at a party with Domenicali and multiple investors at the Wynn was strongly advised on Wednesday night, even though it meant cancelling mandatory media commitments that F1 knows are scheduled – and if it’s going to make money, it would be best if it leads to a positive impact rather than simply lined shareholders’ pockets.
While it remains to be seen if that transpires in a more distant future, for now the balance Verstappen references will start to shift when cars actually hit the track and the sporting element kicks off on Thursday.
Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali says “10 teams are more than enough” for the sport to be successful and he personally doesn’t want to expand beyond 20 cars on the grid. The FIA has closed the process for potential new interest to submit an …
Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali says “10 teams are more than enough” for the sport to be successful and he personally doesn’t want to expand beyond 20 cars on the grid.
The FIA has closed the process for potential new interest to submit an expression of interest to join F1, and is now working through the applicants to see if it recommends any for approval. Both the governing body and Liberty Media as the commercial rights holder will have a say in any expansion, but Domenicali believes the current 10 teams mean the sport is already at the ideal number.
“This is a very interesting question (what is the right number of teams) because there are different positions and there are also legal implications to what we have to say,” Domenicali told F1’s ‘Beyond the Grid’ podcast. “I think to be honest, if the real value that it is bringing to the sport is important and is real and stable for the future, there is also another consideration that you have to take. If the contest is growing — which is what we can see today — 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 today that involves the FIA and us to make the right call for the future. This is something that is also connected to the future discussion that will happen with the renewal of the Concorde Agreement, that we need to remember is expiring in 2025, so we have still a long time to go.
“But it’s an evaluation that we need to take considering in this period of time where in the past there were teams that were coming in, getting out with zero value. Now the teams are stable, very profitable and very strong in terms of also technical capability to be competitive on the track.
“Therefore, the right answer is that in the next months it will be a very important point of discussion that we need to tackle. That is, do we need to stay with 10, do we need to have more teams, or we can give the exemption to a future possible team to be really very, very strong that can join F1? This is all a topic that will be part of the discussion for the future.”
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Pushed on whether he himself wants to see more than 20 cars, Domenicali responded: “No. I don’t think so. That’s a personal opinion, I need to say that. Because it’s something that if you have a good show, 20 cars are more than enough.
“If you have two cars or two drivers fighting, the level of attention is mega. So if you have already two teams fighting, that means four cars, it’s just incredible. So can you imagine 20 cars, 10 teams are at the level where there is competition on track? It would be impressive.
“I would say let’s wait and see. My ‘no’ is not against someone who wants to come in — I need to clarify that because otherwise it seems that I want to be protectionist. That is not the case. I want to see the right one and I need to also respect the ones that have invested in Formula 1 in the last period, because we forget too quickly in that respect.
“Now everyone wants to jump in the coach that is very fast. But we need to be prudent, we need to take the right decision, that’s what I’m saying.”
Domenicali feels building value for the existing F1 teams is central to his stewardship of the sport. Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Domenicali says he has helped direct F1 in a better direction from a business point of view as evidenced by the interest in existing teams, suggesting offers to purchase them are closing in on $1 billion — a figure that dwarfs the existing buy-in amount.
“In my role I need to consider that the sport can grow only if the majority of all the teams can grow. That was one of the fundamentals of the budget cap — to give a credible financial stability to the value of the franchise of the team.
“The more you are able to have a competitive field, the more you may have interesting races, the more you can create the interest in the sport and that’s for sure very, very important.
“It is clear that there are situations where the interest in F1 of (some) teams is bigger because they are investing and believe this is the real project on which to develop other things. And therefore it is important that we give sustainable financial stability for each of them to make sure that everyone can do that.
“If you look what has happened in such a short term, talking about the value of a team, there was a time not many years ago — I would say two years ago when the new Concorde Agreement had been signed — when there was talk about, ‘What is the value of a team that has to come in Formula 1?’ There was a number put on the Concorde Agreement that was 200 million (dollars), which seems unreachable, because there were teams in the past that were sold for £1.
“Now the market is offering almost billions to teams and they are refusing that. Can you imagine that?
“So that gives you the perspective of what we are building as an ecosystem. We are building important structure, important dynamics of which the more everyone is growing, the better and the stronger is the business platform which we are all working in.”
