How Formula 1 management actually feels about shorter races after Stefano Domenicali claim

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Formula One Group CEO Stefano Domenicali is always looking for ways to find a new audience for Formula 1.

The growth of Formula 1 over the past few years under Liberty Media has been extraordinary, with Drive to Survive and an enthralling title battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen playing a major role.

After several years of Red Bull dominance, fans are hoping that Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris take the battle for the drivers’ championship down to the wire, with just 31 points separating them right now.

However, F1 realises that it needs to keep moving forward and can’t rely on the same tactics that brought in fans before to continue working now.

Stefano Domenicali has shared plenty of ideas to try and keep Formula 1 at the forefront of innovation when it comes to enticing new fans.

Domenicali has suggested introducing more Sprint Races, with practice sessions typically the least exciting part of a race weekend.

There are also new markets to explore, with Domenicali putting a plan together to increase interest in the United States as their excitement about F1 grows.

One suggestion that has emerged is that Domenicali wants to shorten Grand Prix due to a lack of interest in longer races.

Journalist Jon Noble has explored this theory, and the timing couldn’t be better after Verstappen just won the fastest race in F1 history at the Italian Grand Prix.

READ MORE: ‘High-level’ F1 sources now believe teams have ‘no desire’ to back one upcoming major rule change

Formula One management thinks the current Grand Prix work ‘just fine’ amid shortening discussion

Noble was speaking on The Race F1 Podcast about the issue, and he explained: “If you go dig back to what Domenicali actually said, there’s an Italian media session pre-Italian Grand Prix.

“The topic came up about potential changes in the future. And it came up that their evidence shows the younger fans don’t particularly like longer races, but the highlights are more popular.

“But this was all correct; he never actually said he was looking at shorter races. It was just the fact that the audience likes a particular length of coverage, and it didn’t dig into the details.

“I think the arguments against shortening races are absolutely massive. You end up with nailed-on one-stoppers, easy one-stopper races, and the strategy goes out the window.

“Unless you have a ludicrous situation of super, super soft tyres, where drivers are stopping.

Sprint races, I don’t think we’ve had a single Sprint Race that we can say hands down was better than a Grand Prix. They’ve added intrigue to an overall weekend, I think, at times.

“But I can’t recall a Sprint Race that has been an absolute barnstormer of a race, and has been better.

“So I think it’s one of those that got a head of steam. But I think the reality from FOM is that the race length works fine.

“But they obviously need to understand the dynamics of free to air versus pay TV versus what the younger generation wants, how they’re consuming content.

“Because it’s no longer about tuning in at two o’clock and watching it, you can watch it on YouTube, you can watch it on social media, you can watch it on the F1 TV. There are numerous touch points.”

READ MORE: Esteban Ocon suggests an exciting rule change that would ‘spice up’ Formula 1 without more Sprints

How Pirelli could hold the key to more exciting Formula 1 races

The length of Formula 1 races isn’t the issue for many fans, with Grand Prix in the UK largely broadcast behind a Sky Sports subscription, and F1 TV not available in the region.

This would explain why younger fans in particular consume F1 through highlights as opposed to watching the whole race.

However, when the pack is so close in terms of raw speed, overtaking becomes very difficult.

If Pirelli could continue to choose softer tyre compounds, forcing more pit stops and therefore more strategy, it would make the races far more intriguing.

There’s little that can be done to make the middle of a race more exciting, but this would make the last few laps of each Grand Prix incredibly tense as several different strategies converged.