Former Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali, currently the chief executive officer of Formula 1, believes that there are not enough seats for “great drivers” such as Daniel Ricciardo to remain on the grid or for young talented drivers to find a place in Formula 1, but at the same time he pointed out that there is no need for new teams to join the sport, because it would lead to the risk of F1 becoming “too crowded”.
There are currently ten teams on the Formula 1 grid, which means just 20 seats for what should be the best racing drivers in the world. The number is lower than most years in the sport’s history, despite the fact that there has been a huge increase in popularity which also led to a bigger demand and interest in team and drivers joining the grid.
It has already been confirmed that German manufacturer Audi will join the Formula 1 World Championship from the 2026 season as a power unit supplier. Their decision came following new power unit regulations, created specifically to make Formula 1 more attractive for newcomers to join the sport at a competitive level, were published earlier this month.
At the same time, Porsche wanted to enter the sport by merging with Red Bull, but a deal with the Austrian team was not eventually reached.
The talented drivers on the market, with Daniel Ricciardo one of many experienced and up-and-coming stars currently out of contract at the end of the current championship, has only added more value to the existing F1 seats. F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali was recently interviewed by Sky Sports F1 and pointed out that Daniel Ricciardo “is a great driver in a difficult moment in his career [at McLaren]” and that he “hopes he can find his place”.
Yet the former Ferrari boss has not changed his mind on the topic of new teams entering Formula 1:
“As always, you need to be balanced. You need to see all the things that are around the table. Having more drivers… at the end of the day there is always a limit at which you can go. Adding one or two, you may open up some driving seats. But we need to also have the right dimension in what is successful for the sport. I think in that respect there is the evaluation of the sustainability of the team, the evaluation of not being too crowded with that. So I would say in terms of priority, it is not really a need for Formula 1 today.” – the Formula 1 president explained.
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American semi-retired auto racing driver and current team owner Michael Andretti has been trying to join Formula 1 with a new American team. While he is willing to pay the $200m entry fee, there is guarantee he will be granted a place on the grid anytime soon.
Stefano Domenicali explained that he has “a vision for the future” which focuses on a different approach and a different direction for the sport:
“Now Formula 1 is extremely competitive but you need to be very strong in terms of financials, in terms of competence, and today this is one of the things that is crucial, to make sure the stability of the system will be for a long time. You see how difficult today it is to find people that really are the top quality in all the different business. I don’t think that today that is something we will be able to say with faith. I think that is the time that we need to invest for the future, but we need to be balanced. So I’m not saying that this will not happen, but we need to take it step by step.” – the Formula 1 chief executive officer concluded.
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