Speaking earlier this week, Domenicali said fans and race promoters are “tired of free practice” and that weekend formats could be reshaped to deliver more on-track action.
“There’s a topic on the table concerning the format we’ll use in the coming years, starting with sprint weekends,” Domenicali told media ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.
“We need to understand whether to increase them, how to increase them, and whether to use different formats. We have several discussions to have with the teams to decide the direction.”
The F1 chief argued that condensed formats could appeal to younger audiences who prefered the “exciting moments” of the weekends.
“There’s also the issue of the length of the competitions, he said. “We believe they’re too long for young people.
“Perhaps for us, who were born with this format, it’s fine this way, but there’s a large segment of the audience that only wants to see the highlights.
Secure your spot today.
“Today, everything is going very well, but precisely for that reason, we shouldn’t rest on our laurels, but rather think about what the next step will be.”
He also suggested that drivers’ attitudes have shifted.
“Initially 18 were against the sprint and two in favour – today it’s the opposite,” he added.
“We discussed it at the dinner we organised in Austria and everyone spoke in favour.”
Driver reactions at Monza highlighted a split in opinion.
Max Verstappen, long a critic of sprint races, said the idea of shorter grand prix distances does not appeal to him.
“No,” Verstappen said when asked if he backed shorter races.
“You all know, of course, how I think about sprint races, but the length of the race, I think it’s fine.
“Sometimes one-and-a-half hours, sometimes close to two. In other sports as well, sometimes you have an exciting game, sometimes [it’s] absolutely boring and you fall asleep.
“That’s sport for you.”
Verstappen added that part of F1’s appeal lies in unpredictability.
“You cannot always make it exciting, because if it’s always exciting, it becomes boring too…It always needs to be a surprise.
“Sometimes it can be surprisingly exciting, sometimes it can be surprisingly boring…From my side, I’m probably more of a traditional guy.
“I think it’s more important that all the teams are closer, because then you get more racing anyway.”
Fernando Alonso was equally outspoken, framing the debate as a societal issue rather than a sporting one.
“It’s a problem of the society and the kids, but not the sport, so probably it’s not needed to change,” he said.
Alonso compared grand prix lengths to football matches, noting that fans do not always watch the full 90 minutes but that does not warrant shortening games.
Fernando Alonso was asked about making F1 races shorter to cater to younger fans with shorter attention spans 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/qKoO70gqMJ
— Autosport (@autosport) September 4, 2025
“Football matches are a little bit long; when I sit in front of the TV, I’m not watching the 90 minutes concentrated,” the Spaniard added.
“I go to the kitchen, go back, I mean there is always some moments of distraction.
“But no one is talking about having 60 minutes football matches or something like that.”
Other drivers offered more measured positions.
Esteban Ocon suggested races that push two hours, such as Singapore, could be slightly shortened without compromising the spectacle.
“A lot has been tried. I think it’s good that we get consulted a little bit in this with Stefano. But my opinion is that there’s no need to make a big change about what we have,” he said.
“And I don’t think necessarily the show will be much better for sure. As a fan, what you want to see is more racing. But it’s also nice to wait patiently and expect the race.
“A grand prix is a big thing and I’m a bit more into that, I really like to wait a good amount of time to be excited again.
“I would agree with, with Stefano that maybe some of the races are a bit long – let’s say the ones that are, you know, more than two hours or like Singapore or stuff like that.
“Maybe shortening a little bit, it would not make any difference to the spectacle of the show, but that’s how it’s been historically for so long.
“But [shortening] a race like Monza or a race like Spa, that would be too short.”
Kimi Antonelli welcomed more sprint races, praising the format for keeping drivers “on point straight away,” though he warned that shorter races could complicate pit strategy.
“It’s a tough one, I think personally sprint weekends are fun because they have a lot of activity,” he said.
“You have to be on point straight away because you have one practice, then qualifying and then you go into a sprint race.
“But I think shorter races – I don’t think it would really work. Already now with long races we do one-stop strategies with the tyres we have, and you know they would have to implement so many more rules for a shorter race in terms of pitstop.
“I think also with the longer race, probably you have also more time to build your race.
“But sprint weekends are fun, so that wouldn’t be bad having more of them.”
Oscar Piastri meanwhile said he does not have a strong opinion, adding that he felt the current format works.
“I think it kind of depends on the race,” he said.
“There’s some races where the race could be six hours and nothing’s going to happen. And then there’s some that you wish you had an extra 20 laps to have something happen.
“I certainly don’t think it needs to be dramatically changed…fans know what they’re in for when they watch a race, so I don’t think it really changed my opinion.”
Discussion about this post