F1 CEO, Stefano Domenicali says the quiet part out loud as he seeks advice on the state of the sport from an unusual source.
The Italianhas finally admitted what most of us have known for some time, that the sport is being reimagined for a whole new audience while those that supported it over the decades no longer matter.
To be fair, it's not as though he kept it a secret, almost from the day he got the gig, every time he has opened his mouth the clues have been there.
He isn't an engineer, he's not a former driver, the son of a banker his background is pure business administration and management. However, with his history in the sport, having been boss at Ferrari, one can understand what made him attractive to Liberty Media, Chase Carey having never quite cut it with the fans.
However, from the outset it was clear that the Italian sees F1 as a business and like all businesses the bottom line is profit.
Under his management, and with a little help from the Fauci crisis, the sport has grown beyond Bernie Ecclestone's wildest dreams (or nightmares), as it seeks to infuse itself with various other forms of entertainment, be it movies, music. At the same time, whilst Liberty was determined to increase the sport's popularity in its own backyard, the sport sought to change the entire demographic of the fanbase, wanting it younger and female, and with the aid of social media, Drive to Survive, influencers and the teams and drivers it succeeded.
Then came the 2026 rules overhaul, and from the outset it was clear that not only were many fans unhappy, so too were most of the drivers.
However, Domenicali dismissed the criticism, and while admitting that everyone is entitled to an opinion - and making clear that this is all he sees it as - pointing to the viewing figures and grandstands filled to overflowing with the sport's newfound audience.
However, the complaints about the rules continued, and in time even those who initially supported them began to speak out.
Publicly, Domenicali dismissed the criticism, behind the scenes the sport was doing it all it could to effectively brush it under the carpet. On-board footage, particularly that which showed cars slowing on straights, was dropped, radio outbursts (about the rules) were not broadcast, and if drivers discussed issues in the cool down room post-race the cameras cut away. All this done with the full cooperation of the broadcasters and much of the media.
In Belgium, George Russell, originally a staunch supporter of the 2026 regulations, went into meltdown after losing a heap of positions on the opening lap, but only fans in Germany got to hear his expletive-filled outburst thanks to the current censorship of criticism, the rest of us only heard the exasperated Briton declare: "I'm out!"
Throughout the live coverage the Sky team repeatedly tell us that fans can follow the driver of their choice by pressing the red button, then advising that, courtesy of AWS, X should overtake Y in 5 laps, while Z's pitstop window ends in 3 laps.
However, over the course of the season, fans have noticed changes to the graphics. The gaps are no longer given in thousandths of a second, while, in recent races, the trace showing the battery deployment, by which fans can see what is still available, what is being used, has been removed.
Such are the 2026 regulations that this is vital information that F1 fans - undoubtedly the most technically savvy of all sports - need.
Not so says Domenicali.
"Current F1 has a lot of action on the track," he tells members of the media in a call-in. "People are loving it, they're focused on what's happening on the track.
"New fans don't understand our technology, the 'clipping' division, or whatever it is," he adds, "because it's too technical for the general audience we have. Therefore, the on-track effect has been extremely positive for the fans."
But don't take Stefano's word for it, oh no. Stefano has been talking to the oracle of all things F1. George Lucas.
Yes, George Lucas, who, Howard the Duck aside, has created numerous legendary movie franchises and successfully sold Lucasfilm to The Walt Disney Company. However, George wasn't always so business savvy. In 1986 he sold his Graphics Group to Steve Jobs for $10m. Disney subsequently bought what had become Pixar, but Lucas hadn't retained any equity and is therefore thought to have missed out on hundreds of millions. D'oh!
Anyway, back to Stefano.
"Nobody is interested in how the cars are driven," he insists. "I had an interesting conversation with George Lucas in Hungary, and he gave me an incredible insight into how new fans watch F1. They're fascinated by the fact that there's a lot of action on the track. They're not interested in the throttle angle or the brake pressure percentage to overtake."
And then comes the killer...
"For a niche of our fans, this data is relevant," he adds. "And, of course, it's available. But, for the vast majority, that's what we receive as information."
A "niche", is that how he sees those fans watching every session on two or three TVs, with at least one tablet for the live timing. Is that how he sees those fans who ignore the 95% of the utter crap posted on social media by the teams and instead following the growing number of brilliantly researched and informative technical sites.
Most race fans - of course not the new demographic - want more technical information not less, and under the 2026 regulations such information is vital.
Ironically, from the outset, F1 has sought feedback from the fans via its surveys, and in the most recent 71% said that "high performance and precision are defining attributes of the sport", while 62% "cite innovation and technology as central to F1's identity".
That is F1's own fan survey.
However, Domenicali isn't merely pandering to the new demographic of fan, he, and the FIA, have allowed the sport to get into this mess thanks to the manufacturers, having clearly not learned the lessons of the past.
So enthralled were they by the likes of Volkswagen and others, not to mention the various green agendas, that they were only too happy to take F1 down the electric route. And, the mess that is F1 2026 aside, how is that electric car thing working out for Volkswagen and Co?
Last weekend, Lando Norris bravely stuck his head above the parapet, admitting that there is much about the way the sport is heading that he doesn't like.
"Fans from five years ago, pre-Drive to Survive, would hate this," he was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail, in reference to F1 2026. "Fans nowadays are a lot more personality-based, about the drivers, and not about Formula One as a whole sport, so are less interested in how the actual race goes. They care more about whether a driver has done well or not.
"Formula One is heavily led by the fact it's a business nowadays, and not about making the sport the best possible," said the 2025 world champion. "It's about how you make the most money," he continues. "That's not what it should be. That's not how a sport should be run."
In the same media call-in, Domenicali ruled out back-to-back races in Las Vegas (should Qatar and Abu Dhabi be dropped) because F1 is in competition with NFL, Seriously?
Sadly, as long as new fans are attracted - and the sport is exploring every avenue it can to widen the catchment demographic - things won't get better, they will get worse.
However, it is a fact that it cannot continue, for the world of the influencer is fake, and just as quickly as F1 rose from the pile so it will sink again, and those "fans" will have moved on.
It would be nice to think that Stefano will suffer his Gerald Ratner moment (Google it), but as long as the grandstands are full of performative people caught up in the hype, as long as the teams keep posting the crap, as long as Charles keeps pouting and Kimi keeps winning, the money will keep rolling in and all will be happy.
But one day the bubble will burst, for there is no longer a solid foundation for F1, it sold its soul and is now built entirely on hype.
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