The President and CEO of Formula 1 highlighted the championship's evolution and the growing competition: "The evolution from the first race has been phenomenal," he stated.
Stefano Domenicali, President and CEO of Formula 1, has taken stock of the first half of the 2026 season and is very positive about the second half of the championship. The Italian highlighted the "phenomenal evolution" of the category since the start of the new regulatory era in Australia and the growing interest from fans: "The championship is becoming very, very fascinating. There's a lot of action on track and people are loving it" declared Domenicali in an interview with the media.
The head of F1 recalled that, at the beginning of the season, many predicted absolute dominance by Mercedes: "Some said: 'The championship is already over, Mercedes will dominate the season, it's game over' and in reality, that's not true, there are still many things to happen until the end of the year, there will be more teams that can fight for victory, more drivers who can be winners" he stated.
Domenicali highlighted Antonelli's importance for the sport, especially for Italian fans: "He's fresh, he's still very new and very open to any kind of things that happen to him, he has brought many new fans connected to him because the nature of his way of connecting is fantastic. On the sporting side, he has proven to be very strong, without the two retirements related to car problems, the championship for him would be an even bigger gap, he has proven to be very solid" he explained.
The CEO also referred to Antonelli's relationship with other drivers: "The relationship today with the other drivers is fantastic, the relationship can be different of course, if we start winning the championship but that's the nature of our sport. I can only be very happy with the way he has related to our sport, I've known him for many, many years and he's an incredible asset for the future" he added.
Domenicali also spoke about Max Verstappen's future amid speculation about his continuity at Red Bull: "Max is an incredible driver, he loves Formula 1, I have an incredible relationship with him, my opinion is that Max will stay with us and I really hope that's the case" he stated.
Regarding the calendar, Domenicali confirmed that Malaysia will host a Grand Prix again in 2026 at the Sepang circuit, which will host the Bahrain race from October 2 to 4: "Together we have found a new way to host the Grand Prix in Malaysia, it's a sign of cooperation, it's the sign of thinking more broadly than other people believe" he explained.
The CEO also advanced that the decision on the Qatar and Abu Dhabi races will be made before mid September, depending on the geopolitical situation: "If the situation is not resolved as we believe it should be, before mid September, we will make the decision, in that sense I want to confirm to you that if this is not possible, the end of the season would be in Europe" he stated.
Domenicali also advanced that the 2027 calendar will be presented in autumn and that F1 continues to receive "many requests to host Grands Prix around the world" with Portugal and Turkey confirmed to return in 2027: "In summary, we are looking forward to the second half of the season with a lot of positivity" he concluded.
