Who slept best last night: Stefano Domenicali

Formula 1 delivered in Shanghai. There are still issues to address, but the new F1 certainly isn't broken

It must have been a great race for any Italian to watch. Two Ferrari drivers, in what appears to be one of the best cars produced in Maranello for many years, battled for the lead with the sport's most promising young rising star, Italy's best hope for a world title since… Mamma mia! Alberto Ascari in 1953. The first victory for the new national hero was delivered in almost dominant fashion, but still after a fierce battle. Italian fans are probably not too unhappy, at least.

Stefano Domenicali is a top manager leading one of the world's biggest entertainment businesses, but make no mistake: someone born in Imola who had to climb over fences to watch cars racing is a true Formula 1 fan. Whether he enjoyed the race in Shanghai on Sunday was probably still affected by his job title and the responsibility that comes with it, but he was probably feeling relieved above all else: the Chinese Grand Prix was quite a spectacle, and there's almost no way to argue with that.

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Did he enjoy it as a fan?

The question could almost certainly have been answered positively had numerous drivers not voiced so many concerns in recent weeks about how they have to deal with some 'unnatural' quirks of this new formula.

Racing certainly looked a lot more entertaining than it did last year.

Standing in the paddock media pen, interviewing the hapless McLaren drivers while the race hadn’t even reached the halfway point, it was really hard not to keep glancing at the monitors showing the TV feed. Especially at moments when more than 230,000 people sitting in the absolutely packed grandstands unanimously gasped and exhaled after every new piece of race action, of which there were plenty.

F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali certainly enjoyed hearing that.

The packed grandstands had a lot to shout about

Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images

Perhaps he liked it as a spectator, too – unless he is among those who feel that Formula 1 in 2026 is something of a guilty pleasure. Whether he – or any F1 fan – needs to think like that is a philosophical question.

There's no hiding the fact that the new Formula 1 isn't perfect. Yet it definitely isn't as flawed as Max Verstappen suggests.

It has to be said that Shanghai is also an almost perfect track for these energy-management cars. It certainly masked some of the issues that Melbourne exposed, and it allowed for some exciting battles. The longest and toughest of these was between the two Ferrari drivers, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton passing each other in places where you'd never imagine F1 drivers could pass each other in F1 cars. The new regulations have certainly widened the available toolkit for overtaking. What was previously limited in Shanghai to "slipstreaming and overtaking under braking into the hairpin" has now become a game of tactical chess, with drivers managing their battery levels to outsmart each other.

Some call it unnatural. Or artificial. But you're free to disagree. One thing is certain, though: it's unusual. This applies not only to the drivers' experience, but to spectators' witnessing it, too. After all, there's a valid argument that it's the latter's opinion that matters most.

Yes, there was a lot. It's hard to comprehend at times – and even follow to an extent. This way of racing devalues overtaking. None of those in Shanghai will go down as some of the greatest in F1 history. Not only because there were just too many to remember. But also because, as Lando Norris put it, the "who has the biggest balls" factor is no longer that important.

Close racing between the Ferrari team-mates was enough to keep anyone entertained

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

Thus, the days of Mansell-Berger Peraltada moments are gone. Not only because F1 has changed. But also, because the world has moved on. Back then, a random fan watching at home would have to wait an hour to see some action. The sad reality today is that a random fan watching at home has far too many options to divert their attention elsewhere by presenting their fingerprint to the shiny screen of their mobile connection to the world – which we old-fashioned people still call a "phone".

Formula 1 needs to move with the times – there's simply no other way. And that applies to everything. Whether that's staying on top of modern technology, delivering an even better show for a wider audience, or keeping them engaged.

Of course, making drivers happier needs to be a priority too, because ultimately, they are the only 22 people who deliver the final product. Without their input, Formula 1 will never reach the overall level of excitement because the audience will always be able to tell whether the drivers are excited as well.

Yet, what Formula 1 absolutely cannot afford is to become irrelevant. It can't afford to lose touch with the times, the audience or the ever-changing world.

Stefano Domenicali simply cannot allow that to happen. Not as F1 CEO. But even more so as a Formula 1 fan.