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Uncertainty surrounds the future of Formula One chief executive Stefano Domenicali, Mail Sport can reveal.
The affable Italian, 59, was due to sign his new contract with Liberty Media, the sport’s American owners, in the summer but has not yet done so.
Domenicali, a former Ferrari team principal, has one year left on his current contract. Supporters say there is no rush to re-sign and that a resolution may yet materialize, suggesting that negotiations may be ongoing and that their fate is in their own hands.
But Domenicali’s future has been thrown into the spotlight by Liberty Media chief executive Greg Maffei’s annual tour to London this week, during which he spoke to other F1 power brokers as well as Domenicali.
The visit of Maffei, a 64-year-old businessman with a passion for golf and a degree from Harvard, has caused tongues to wag among Formula One’s high rollers, and private speculation about Domenicali’s future is mounting. in its position estimated at £6 million a year.
Speculation has increased over the future of Formula One chief executive Stefano Domenicali.
Liberty Media chief executive Greg Maffei (left) has been increasingly visible at the races in recent months amid suggestions he wants a leadership change in Formula One.
Red Bull’s Christian Horner, left, and Mercedes’ Toto Wolff, right, could be among the sport’s big guns seeking the job should Domenicali eventually step down.
Maffei runs the American conglomerate owned by reclusive John Malone and is the most powerful man in the sport’s ownership structure. He has also been increasingly visible at races in recent months.
I’ve heard he wants a leadership change, an idea that received credit for the departure last month of F1’s legal director, Sacha Woodward Hill, 55, after 30 years with the organisation. She was hired by modern F1 creator Bernie Ecclestone, who sold his company to Liberty for £5bn in 2017.
Woodward Hill handed Ecclestone his dismissal papers at his own offices in Knightsbridge. He did not blame him, knowing that his veteran and valuable lawyer was only carrying out the orders of his new bosses. They have maintained warm relations. He called her on her next birthday and they stay in touch.
A source close to the scene told me on Thursday night: ‘The Americans could be doing some kind of cleanup. I think Greg wants to run the whole thing.
Domenicali moved with his family to England and changed schools upon taking over from Ecclestone’s immediate successor Chase Carey in 2021, and has established himself as a friendly figure.
His departure, if it occurred, could spark a rush for his position from the sport’s biggest beasts, such as Red Bull’s Christian Horner, Mercedes’ Toto Wolff or McLaren’s Zak Brown.
The dilemma facing Michael Schumacher’s family
It is a tragic case, and who can advise the beloved wife of a legend who has been stricken with a crippling illness?
It has been 11 years since Michael Schumacher was changed forever in a skiing accident in Mirebel on a bright Sunday morning in the Alps.
He has not been seen in public from that day to this day. Although he is convincingly said to have attended his daughter Gina’s wedding at the family’s £27million villa in Mallorca last month.
Telephones were not allowed into Villa Yasmín, the property he and his wife Corinna bought seven years ago from Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez. It is understandable why the instructions were applied and photographs of the seven-time world champion were banned. Privacy and decency must prevail.
It’s their business, not ours. He is a secretive man by nature and endured the trappings of his fame only when he mustered the courage to accept that engaging with the media, and therefore his fans, was an inevitable price he had to pay.
But despite everything, he is also a public figure, supposedly the world’s first multi-millionaire athlete, and although very sensitive to the devastating consequences of his accident, I don’t think it is unreasonable to think that some sensible medical bulletin would send it wrong. It could also be the best public relations strategy.
Schumacher has not been seen publicly since a skiing accident in 2013 (Schumacher pictured with his wife Corinna in 2005)
A sensible medical bulletin on the F1 legend’s health could be the best PR strategy
Ainslie America’s Cup base reminiscent of F1
I spoke to Sir Ben Ainslie, our top sailor, this week in Barcelona, where he hopes to end Britain’s 173-year wait to win the America’s Cup, the oldest international sporting competition.
The facilities at its base were phenomenal and reminiscent of Formula One. Mercedes designers worked in its office. Downstairs was a simulator where his team spent an hour or more each day acclimating to the expected weather conditions. The headphones they wear take their vision directly to the sea, in a virtual sense.
Others do numbers in the offices. If you think sailing is simply a pleasure at sea, think again. This is a cutting-edge sport.
Sir Ben Ainslie hopes to end Britain’s 173-year wait to win America’s Cup sailing
The facilities at the Ainslie base are similar to those in F1, as its team seeks to simulate conditions in the water.
Ainslie incident offers reminder of Ecclestone’s theatrics
On the subject of Ainslie, he was detained at knifepoint and his Rolex was stolen.
Ben is getting a fair deal these days (good for his mind and soul, as well as his fitness, at 47 years old), but he couldn’t catch the bully who took his guard off. He chased him for a kilometer but to no avail. “A good job, perhaps,” he said.
He would have beaten the guy, a gang member, to a pulp.
I reminded him of Bernie Ecclestone taking advantage of his mugging on the steps of his house 14 years ago. The reason actually had nothing to do with seizing his watch, but at the time F1 had a sponsorship from Hublot, the high-end Swiss watch maker.
Ecclestone suggested that Hublot run an advertisement, which they did, capturing his black eyes and bruised face with the caption: “Look what people are willing to do for a Hublot.”
It was pure Bernie. Rolex ambassador Ainslie liked this. “All the marketing is good,” he laughs. PC people wouldn’t understand that.
Briatore is Renault’s best hope for a return to glory
Whatever you say about Flavio Briatore and his colorful past, he is a star producer of F1 success. Ecclestone tried to get him to run Ferrari instead of the current incumbent, the cheerful Frenchman Fred Vasseur. Chalk and cheese.
Flavio Briatore, at the age of 74, remains Renault’s best hope for a return to glory.
It takes a big personality to run Ferrari, with all its behind-the-scenes political machinations. Briatore was prepared for that; Vasseur, well, let’s see.
Briatore has been hired this season to lead Renault and its decision to pause its engine program and improve its game. Mercedes is expected to get the engine job.
Briatore, 74, remains Renault’s best hope for a return to glory. That last happened through Fernando Alonso in 2006. When Briatore was in charge.
South Korea’s leading race to be added to calendar
The next addition of Formula One to the calendar?
South Korea could return to the calendar, but in Seoul or Incheon, not Daegu
From what I’ve heard, South Korea is a big favorite. There are a couple of places in mind. The capital, Seoul, or Incheon, with a population of three million, leads the way.
Fortunately, a return to the Daegu “resort” is not considered. Sure, they did a good job, but the ‘love hotels’ (rented by the hour while you were on the track) took a bit of effort.