Max Verstappen's dominance not a cause for worry for F1 boss Stefano Domenicali

Max Verstappen and Red Bull have been miles ahead of their rivals since the FIA brought in major technical changes in 2022. The Austrian team managed to develop a car that has allowed Verstappen to dominate the F1 since.

But F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali is not too worried about Verstappen's dominance making F1 boring. He believes that the driver market and teams closing the gap on Red Bull can contribute to a thrilling season.

While the Dutch driver continues to lead the drivers' championship in 2024, other drivers and teams are not too far behind. Top teams like Ferrari and McLaren have also worked hard the past two years to draw closer to Red Bull. Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz and McLaren driver Lando Norris have already won races in 2024 beating Verstappen and Red Bull.

Thus, Stefano Domenicali feels that the current season and the sport as a whole is still interesting to witness. As quoted by Gazzetta Motori, he states that though Max Verstappen has continued his dominance in 2024, other teams are much closer to Red Bull than before.

"Max is having another flawless championship. But there are very small gaps behind and all the teams are pushing, so I expect more competition. Furthermore, there are factors that could put Red Bull's dominance at risk, such as changes within the team and possible news from the driver market. So I don't see the danger of getting bored," Domenicali said. [Translated from Google]

He also touched upon how the sport is booming and the fact that F1 is getting race-hosting requests from numerous countries.

"The television data, more discontinuous, does not reflect F1, which is at an all-time high for spectators and sponsors, with requests from every nation to host races," he added.

---

Max Verstappen and F1 CEO at odds over F1's saturated calendar

Max Verstappen and F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali are in disagreement when it comes to the 24-race calendar F1 started hosting from 2024.

Though the Red Bull driver continues to obliterate the entire F1 grid in 2024, he is not too happy with the 24-race calendar. Before the season began, the Dutchman spoke to the media, including Sportskeeda, saying that the calendar is not sustainable.

"I feel that we're already way over the limit of races. This is not sustainable," Max Verstappen argued.

In April 2024, however, Domenicali told the media that he feels 24 races are optimal for a season. When asked to respond to Verstappen's and other drivers' criticism of the race calendar, he boldly stated that it is not compulsory to race in F1.

"I think 24 is an optimal number with the events we have so far," Domenicali said.

"I think that 24 is better than 12. I speak with them - if you want to drive, you can drive every day, if you don't want to drive in Formula 1, it’s not compulsory," he later added.

F1 has officially released the 24-race calendar for the 2025 season relatively early in 2024.