Stefano Domenicali speaks out on penalising Red Bull

Fans have called for Formula 1 to intervene to stop Red Bull's and Max Verstappen's dominance.

Formula 1 president and CEO Stefano Domenicali has insisted that no regulation changes will be introduced to end Red Bull’s dominance in 2024 or 2025, with the next changes to the rules being when the new engine regulations are introduced in 2026.

Fans have called for new rules to be introduced to slow Red Bull and Max Verstappen down, due to how easily the pair won both championships.

On his way to a third consecutive Drivers’ Championship, Verstappen won 19 of the 22 races in 2023, meaning he was victorious in 86.4 per cent of the events.

Unsurprisingly, this is a new record, as is the 575 points he accumulated throughout the campaign.

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To highlight just how unstoppable the 26-year-old was, Red Bull would’ve still won the Constructors’ Championship even if Sergio Perez’s points weren’t valid.

Red Bull in general were just exceptional, with the Singapore Grand Prix having been the only race they didn’t win.

With the current regulations not changing until 2026, it’s widely expected that Verstappen and Red Bull will continue to dominate throughout the next two seasons.

Despite this, Domenicali doesn’t see the need to introduce anything drastic to slow the Milton Keynes-based side down.

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“There are two years that are really crucial because then we’re going to have a change, maybe related to the new balance of the power unit and so on,” Domenicali told Sky Sports F1.

Domenicali is actually hopeful that the field will naturally be closer in 2024, after all 20 drivers were separated by just one-second in Q1.

The racing behind Verstappen has actually been very good this year, with Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and Aston Martin having constantly switched places in the pecking order at almost every event.

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This gives Domenicali confidence that 2024 will be a competitive season, as the field is already so close behind the distant Red Bull.

“You saw [in Abu Dhabi] qualifying, 20 cars in less than one second. So in qualifying we are very, very close,” added Domenicali.

“Of course race pace is different, and I think that these will be the major things that we’re going to see differently next year.”