The last lap showdown in Abu Dhabi that took place in 2021 gave the F1 world the most thrilling race finish ever. A last-minute safety car, and the championship was taken away from Lewis Hamilton by the man he had been ahead of. Max Verstappen on faster and fresher tires overtook Lewis Hamilton to bring home a championship that Red Bull had waited 8 years for. While the paddock was filled with mixed emotions, the backlash from a lot of quarters followed. The F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali spoke about how the incident shouldn’t be repeated in the future.

Still not addressing the Elephant in the room which has haunted the top management ever since the Yas Marina showdown, the CEO spoke of the future rather than looking at the past. Sky Sport’s Martin Brundle asked the CEO about the Abu Dhabi “fiasco” and the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix, where Max Verstappen wasn’t sure if he had won the championship or not. He even harshly mentioned that the Formula 1 top management shouldn’t let the fans down like that. Stefano absolutely evading the haunted words “Abu Dhabi, 2021” maneuvered his way around it to answer the journalist.

In an Interview with Sky Sports, Domenicali said, “I would say a strong word we will because I feel that everyone has to do its own job but and The credibility of that is really related to all of that making sure that there will be no holds on that and and it’s true what you’re saying I mean these things shouldn’t happen and and for the benefit of the sport we need to make sure that everyone is doing his own job.”

From almost evading one question to addressing another, Domenicali’s statements have been making rounds in the F1 world. He recently addressed the barbaric political speech gag as well.

The F1 and FIA announced a new rule ahead of the 2023 season. The said rule prohibited any driver from making political or religious statements at any official Formula 1 ceremony. While many think that the barbarian rule which takes away freedom of speech of the drivers is targeted specifically at Hamilton, the top management has now claimed that they will not gag anyone.

As quoted by The Guardian, Domenicali said, “F1 will never put a gag on anyone. Everyone wants to talk, so to have the platform to say what they want in the right way, the better it is. We have a huge opportunity because of the position of our sport which is more and more global, multicultural and multivalued.”