F1 boss Stefano Domenicali has warned that circuits cannot rely on their history alone to retain their place on the calendar.

Indeed, the Italian warns that even tracks like Monaco are not safe as the ever-changing demographic prefers the likes of Las Vegas.

Admitting that the schedule is unlikely to increase beyond 24 races any time soon, the F1 boss warns that "if a grand prix has historic value, it's a plus... but it's not enough.

"For many young fans today, racing in Monte Carlo compared to a new circuit in Las Vegas makes no difference," he tells Italy's Passa dal BSMT podcast.

"So history must be supported by a structure that looks to the future, that allows investment in infrastructure to improve, since tickets are not exactly cheap, to provide services to fans at all levels, and to allow countries to be financially present in a calendar that I think won't grow beyond the number of races we have today."

Other than infrastructure, Domenicali admits that the whole experience of attending a grand prix is changing. Indeed, the advances sent out by circuits these days are more about the music acts performing throughout the weekend other than the actual on track events, a far cry from when COTA needed the likes of Taylor Swift (2016), Justin Timberlake (2017) and Britney Spears (2018) to perform on Saturday nights, post-qualifying, just to get youngsters through the turnstiles and bums on seats - the actual race fans having long departed in preparation for next day's GP.

"F1 is no longer just in a sporting dimension, it's in an entertainment dimension," admits Domenicali. "Entertainment is a positive, beautiful, energising thing, and from this point of view, we are competing, but we must remain very attentive to what's going on around us."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Superbird70, 09/10/2025 14:26

"'History is not enough!!' , the next 007® thriller brought to you by Amazon®. Our protagonist Jimmy Bond, a 20 something super-spy must solve the puzzle of why a F1 race broke out at a Bad Bunny® concert being held in that global city known as Santa Fe, New Mexico.®®®#$%#%"

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2. Posted by BrightonCorgi, 09/10/2025 13:18

"Bring back the Detroit street circuit now that GM and Ford will be in F1!"

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3. Posted by Max Noble, 09/10/2025 9:53

"@Esteemed Editor - my thanks! I’m honoured! What they are doing trampling the history for $$ is horrid to watch…"

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4. Posted by KKK, 09/10/2025 8:17

"What he really means is that he couldnt give a rat's **** where the races are held, as long as it in America. F1 has now turned into a Circus, a badly run at that. As Ive said before, he should just start an ice cream shop, anywhere, just leave F1 alone!"

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5. Posted by Laz, 09/10/2025 7:26

"What he really means is Money Money Money , F1 races are for sale to the highest bidder now, as will Moto GP in the next year or two, welcome to the Liberty world until it doesn't return a high enough profit."

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6. Posted by Celtic Tiger, 08/10/2025 23:00

"Oh look, more gaslighting from the ghouls at FOM/Liberty. The frustrating thing is, that you can't reason a person out of a place they didn't reason themselves into. "

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7. Posted by Burton, 08/10/2025 18:13

"Domenicali thinks the new fans watching are idiots? On what kids refer to as f1twit (on Melon Husk's X) there was last weekend a post that gathered more than 400 thousand views, and it basically said "this is my first year watching F1, and apparently every other track it's impossible to overtake, like, what the hell are we doing?!"
Take the cars away from purpose built circuits and the wow factor is lost, even the WAGs-fixated kids know it."

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8. Posted by BillH, 08/10/2025 17:45

"Take the Indy 500 out of IndyCar or LeMann out of WEC, or Bathurst out of SuperCars and let's see what happens to the viewership, indeed participation in those series.

A lot was learned from the now it seems unnecessarily harsh lock downs of 2020-21, one being how good it was to see F1 on those tracks they had not raced at for some time.

Remove the likes of Silverstone, Monaco, Monza, Spa, Suzuka etc. and F1 will be as bland as FE.

In fact, FE, was all about taking the race to the fans in new city circuits and I'm not sure how that really panned out, and then they actually added in Monaco in later seasons."

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9. Posted by Spindoctor, 08/10/2025 15:36

"If they scrap all those noisy, smelly, ecologically nasty cars, they could have more acts & extra room for 'bums on seats'.

More seriously if comes down to it, from an F1 RACING perspective, who on earth would promote Singapore above almost any other track? Maybe it's now a "Classic"?"

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10. Posted by BrightonCorgi, 08/10/2025 13:59

"History is the one thing F1 needs to cherish. Not dismiss it as yesterday's news.

There may be young fans coming to the races who don't care about the history, but they will as they get more passionate about the sport."

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11. Posted by Wokingchap, 08/10/2025 10:53

"I can't wait for the new series to start !"

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12. Posted by Editor, 08/10/2025 10:22

"@ Max Noble

Post of the decade!"

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13. Posted by Max Noble, 08/10/2025 10:17

"Totally! That’s why “Fifty shades of Grey” is SO much better than anything that loser Shakespeare wrote. Quick, new and simple beats classic, intelligent and worthy every time. Especially if there is a dollar involved.

Chase their dollars kill their brain cells. I think that’s a Liberty Media corporate mandate… "

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14. Posted by koko, 08/10/2025 10:03

"Of course. That's why Ferrari's special status should not matter much. ;-)"

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History is not enough, Domenicali warns classic tracks

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