Stefano Domenicali believes future F1 regulations should make Formula 1 less dependent on the demands of major car manufacturers, while placing sustainable fuels, lighter cars and greater driver control at the heart of the sport’s next technical direction. The Formula 1 president and CEO also wants to avoid artificial intelligence becoming excessively influential in how cars are operated and how the championship develops.
The FIA and Formula 1 are already looking beyond the regulations currently in place, but the approach appears very different from the one adopted during the previous rule-making process. The changing direction of electrification in the automotive industry has demonstrated how rapidly the mobility sector can evolve, and Domenicali believes Formula 1 may increasingly need to follow its own path rather than simply reflecting trends in road-car technology.
Future F1 regulations should deliver lighter cars and greater driver control
Domenicali discussed the future of Formula 1’s technical regulations during the Monza weekend, when he met with the Italian media and addressed the direction the championship could take with its next generation of cars and power units.
“The Federation is responsible for presenting and controlling the regulations,” Stefano Domenicali explained. “Soon, however, we will explain the alignment regarding the power units of the future and the choices connected to the cars.”
“In any case, we have to remember that when the regulatory change we are experiencing today was addressed, it seemed that the future had been defined and was heading towards electrification, but that is no longer the case. It is also up to us to understand how to react and how to interpret everything in the right way, to guarantee, on the one hand, the presence of the manufacturers and, on the other, if the manufacturers were to have different priorities, our independence.”
The subject reflects a debate that has existed around Formula 1 for years, with previous discussions over next-generation F1 power-unit regulations also shaped by the need to balance road relevance, sustainability, performance and costs.
For Stefano Domenicali, one aspect of Formula 1’s future direction is already clear: sustainable fuels should remain central to the championship’s technological strategy, while the cars themselves should become lighter and place more responsibility back in the hands of the drivers.
“From a sporting and technological point of view, the relevance must come from having sustainable fuels at the centre of the technological project, in order to maintain the objectives linked to sustainability, which are very important,” he said.
“On the other hand, we need to choose a car concept that moves towards reducing weight, because we want to see drivers who can push a machine to the limit and, furthermore, that machine has to be in their hands.”
Reducing the weight of Formula 1 cars has already been an important technical objective in recent regulatory discussions, including efforts surrounding lighter components under the F1 technical rules.
Domenicali wants limits on artificial intelligence in Formula 1
Artificial intelligence is another area Stefano Domenicali believes Formula 1 will need to address as technology becomes increasingly sophisticated.
“One of the issues will be avoiding an excessive influence of artificial intelligence in the use [of the cars] and in the development of our sport,” the Formula 1 CEO explained.
His comments point towards a desire to preserve the driver’s importance at a time when increasingly advanced technology can influence car development and operation. The objective, according to Domenicali’s vision, is to ensure that Formula 1 continues to showcase drivers pushing machinery to its limits rather than allowing technological systems to take too much control away from them.
Formula 1 wants greater independence from car manufacturers
Another fundamental part of Stefano Domenicali’s thinking concerns Formula 1’s relationship with major automotive manufacturers. Unlike previous regulatory cycles, he does not want future rules to be designed too heavily around their requirements. Instead, the championship should create a technical framework that can also remain accessible to smaller and independent operations.
“Another risk is that if the manufacturers decided to leave, as has happened in the past, we would have a major problem,” Domenicali said. “It is no coincidence that the current power-unit regulations were written in precisely that way because we were in a situation of that kind.”
Formula 1 has previously had to adapt its engine strategy in response to changing manufacturer commitments, with Ferrari itself once reconsidering its position on an F1 power-unit development freeze amid wider discussions over the sport’s future engine formula.
“In the future, therefore, we will have to try to make sure we are ready to be independent if our objectives are different from those of the manufacturers,” Stefano Domenicali continued.
Independent engine manufacturers could return to Formula 1
Such an approach could potentially create the conditions for independent engine manufacturers to become part of Formula 1 again.
“It is certainly a solution,” Domenicali said. “The technological project is less complex, but it is still linked to objectives in terms of costs and performance.”
“Certainly, this helps us to be more independent without running this risk [of the manufacturers leaving], which in any case I do not see today. In this technological transformation, where previously everyone had moved in one direction, we are now seeing market niches that have forced manufacturers to return to platforms that had been abandoned.”
Sustainable combustion technology has long been part of Formula 1’s discussions about its future, with concepts ranging from synthetic fuels to alternative combustion solutions previously considered as ways of maintaining the internal combustion engine while meeting environmental targets. Earlier discussions over eco-fuels and future Formula 1 engines illustrated how the championship has explored different technical routes as the automotive landscape evolves.
Domenicali sees motorsport and road-car mobility moving apart
Reducing Formula 1’s dependence on manufacturers’ technological requirements could also allow the championship to develop an engine and car concept better suited to the sporting spectacle it wants to provide.
For Stefano Domenicali, the key change is that the technological priorities of road mobility and motor racing are becoming increasingly different.
“The choices made in mobility will become less and less aligned with those of motorsport, because racing is creating different ‘vibrations’ compared with the sustainability requirements of technology and mobility,” he explained.
“We are still keeping mobility at the centre and we have not changed our objectives, but the two areas are clearly going in opposite directions,” Stefano Domenicali concluded.
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