Formula 1 Chief Executive Officer, Stefano Domenicali, believes Red Bull’s dominance is “not an important factor” for drawing in new audiences. The team has finished one-two at both the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Grands Prix, while Max Verstappen comfortably managed to win the Australian Grand Prix despite all the stoppages. Speaking on a recent Liberty Media investor Q&A in Las Vegas, Domenicali believes this blistering form from Red Bull will not put off new audiences from tuning in to F1 races. “What is interesting to see in the new markets, when are the new audience is coming in, that is not a real important factor,” he said. “It’s more for the avid fans that if you see a car that is dominant, that creates a level of less interest. But for for the new market, for the new fans that are coming into the business, this is not really very important.” Domenicali: Cost cap should make things more competitive F1 has always strived to make races unpredictable, which is why many of the regulations have been introduced over the years to close the gaps between teams. The 2022 regulations were designed to do such a thing, however there is still rumblings from drivers who believe that they have not delivered on what they promised. But Domenicali thinks the cost cap should address those shortcomings in the future, as it starts to influence the performance of teams and their ability to introduce upgrades. “First of all if a team is faster than the others, congratulations, they’ve done a better job than the others. It is the duty of FIA to make sure that they check the compliance of the car with the regulations,” said Domenicali. He continued: “We see [at] the first three races Red Bull was very, very competitive, [but] 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 and the championship is very long. [But] ideally, we’re gonna have good surprises before the end.”
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