There is probably nobody in the Formula 1 paddock who is more glass-half-full than CEO Stefano Domenicali.
As he readily confessed during an exclusive interview with The Race F1 podcast this week: “I’m always a positive guy.”
But Domenicali’s endless buoyancy about the 2026 rules – against the backdrop of what have clearly been some very divided opinions from fans – has left some perplexed.
Amid criticisms from drivers, and negativity on social media about key aspects of the new rules, Domenicali has sometimes appeared to be sailing against the wind in being so steadfast in his support of F1 2026.
In fact, in response to one of our questions about whether rule changes agreed for Miami will solve all of F1’s problems, he replied: “F1 has not any problems, F1 is in a great shape – just to make sure that it’s clear to everyone.
“The vast majority of fans has been, since the beginning, very positive of what they see in terms of race action.”
And therein lies one of the repeated arguments used to justify his stance: that rather than fans being turned off by what they see, they are embracing it.
Sure we can see that races remain sold out; the social media engagement is going up and television figures are robust.
For example, based on the analysis of F1’s top 14 broadcast markets (which are the main territories), year on year Australia was 26% up, China 32% up and Japan 19% up.
But the fan positivity message from Domenicali seems to go against the criticisms many are seeing on social media or reading about on forums and in comments.
And this has inevitably prompted the question – are people tuning in because they are curious to see what the complaints are about and then don’t like it themselves, or are they actually enjoying it?
Key to understanding this then is the survey data that F1 is using to base its argument on – and which The Race can reveal for the first time.
What the data says
One of the key metrics that F1 uses to gauge fan feedback is via its official F1 Fan Voice community – which has around 50,000 members signed up.
After each race, it runs a featured poll asking members to rate each grand prix. The options are: Excellent, Good, OK, Poor, Awful, Didn’t watch.
The final results generally get around 2000 responses, which may not seem to be a lot, but in survey terms is an industry standard figure that delivers enough precision and low enough margin of error to be confident that the sample set is indicative of the wider audience.
It is often said that polling works a bit like soup. The entire bowl does not need to be drunk to know if it needs more salt; you only need to check with one spoonful.
Renowned analytics company Gallup states that American voting habits across a populace of 187 million people can be represented with just a sample of 1000. Increasing numbers more than that does not increase accuracy dramatically.
This is why F1 is happy that the data from its polls, which are not targeted at specific groups of fans, offers a solid representation of the wider audience’s thoughts.
Plus those answering must be quite engaged followers to sign up for an F1 account in the first place
Here then are the results of the first three grands prix of the season.
F1 2026 fan polling data
Australian GP 2026 (and 2025)
Excellent: 20% (Last year: 49%)
Good: 41% (Last year: 37%)
OK: 21% (Last year: 10%)
Poor: 9% (Last year: 3%)
Awful: 8% (Last year: 1%)
Didn’t follow: 1% (Last year: 0%)
Chinese GP (2026 and +/- from 2025)
Excellent: 27% (Last year: 11%)
Good: 41% (Last year: 39%)
OK: 17% (Last year: 33%)
Poor: 7% (Last year: 13%)
Awful: 7% (Last year: 3%)
Didn’t follow: 1% (Last year: 1%)
Japanese GP (2026 and +/- from 2025)
Excellent: 12% (Last year: 4%)
Good: 36% (Last year: 14%)
OK: 26% (Last year: 29%)
Poor: 13% (Last year: 32%)
Awful: 11% (Last year: 20%)
Didn’t follow: 2% (Last year: 1%)
If we pull together the two most positive responses and the two most negative, we can see some trends – but equally there is some context that needs mentioning here.
Australia’s ‘Excellent/Good’ combined comes up at 61% this year, compared to 86% last – while its Poor/Awful result has increased from 4% to 17%
However, last year’s Australian Grand Prix was a chaotic wet race with multiple crashes and safety car periods. It was F1’s third-highest ranked race overall in 2025, so was perhaps an outlier of positivity that does not offer a proper like-for-like comparison.
The trends for China and Japan are more stable, although last year’s Japanese GP was one that purists may have loved and the casual audience not so much because of a lack of overtaking.
In terms of Excellent/Good, China delivered a jump from 50% to 68%, while Japan was 18% to 48%. For Poor/Awful, China dropped from 16% to 14%, while Japan was down from 52% to 24%.
It is a sample set of three races so far, and the type of spectacle each has offered has played out in different ways, but the pure numbers are the reason why Domenicali sees no cause for alarm.
Domenicali’s perspective seems very much a global one – in that if the fan data is telling him a positive picture, F1’s commercial situation is still on an upward trend, that new venues are queing up to host grands prix, then why should there be panic?
“I’m interested to see numbers,” he said. “I’m interested to see the interest of people that are coming, are interested in following us, and interested in being our partners. You think that the sponsor or partners will be interested to be here, if they feel in their following that this is a sport that is going bad?
“I mean, we have a queue of people. You will see: a queue of countries that want to host a grand prix. This is something that is a value for my business analysis.”
‘The most hardcore fan’
While happy with the data metrics on one side, it would be wrong to say that Domenicali and F1 have been ignoring the complaints that have surfaced early on from the non-casual fans.
Domenicali puts himself in this category of the more devoted followers of F1 – “I’m the most hardcore of fan because I was born in Imola and I was following races since I was a kid”.
He laughs off wild conspiracy theories about F1 shutting off onboard camera feeds to hide the speed drops-off on straights, as was triggered by an onboard camera technical problem with Kimi Antonelli’s pole lap in Japan. But he says those unhappy about certain aspects are being listened to.
“Listening is very crucial,” he said. “Listening to the people really who are not having this kind of conspiracy theory behind is always very important, because everyone can teach something to us.
“If we didn’t want to listen to anyone, we could have said, ‘Listen, this is what it is’.
“[But] as always, with facts, we are listening. And therefore with facts, we are listening and doing the right thing. There are ways involving the right people and listening.
“Listening doesn’t mean that you always agree with what they’re saying, because, as you know, there are people who love to say something negative, even if they don’t know what they’re talking about.”
What Domenicali clearly wants to emphasise is need for perspective.
While sections of the audience will obsess over MGU-K deployment and megajoules, it would be wrong to say that a majority of those who follow F1 care or understand about them.
“You are getting too engineer [mindset], and that’s why sometimes we miss the spot of: people want to have action, and want to see things that are creating the right place to fight for something.”
Airing dirty laundry
It’s not just some fan data that is the catalyst for the positive messaging we get from Domenicali in public.
There are some other factors that are important to understand here, too, when it comes to putting his contentment into context.
First, there is a personality aspect. While former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone had a habit of constantly criticising the spectacle when he was at the helm, Domenicali is at the other end of the spectrum.
However, this does not mean that Domenicali’s happy stance is a permanent one that he carries into meetings. He can be a hard taskmaster when it comes to fighting for things he thinks can be improved.
But such an approach, and any criticisms he may have of what is in play, are things that he thinks are best kept for behind closed doors rather than played to the outside world.
Asked whether, if there were things he wasn’t happy about with the regulations, he would say so, he insisted: “Yes, in the right way, with the right people.
“I’m not the guy that uses the mic to talk about the things that have to be improved, because I think it’s wrong. I think that the right way to do it is like in a good family: you shout inside the walls, and you don’t shout outside. It doesn’t make any sense, it doesn’t help you.
“If there are things that, as I’m doing, I feel have to be changed, you will never see me use this mic, or you [the media], to be the loudspeaker of the things that have to be improved.
“I think it is a wrong way and a very immature way to manage business. We have the duty to respect people that have invested in us.”
A matter of priorities
There is also an element that, as the boss of a multi-billion sport where time and resource need to be managed, it does not make much sense for Domenicali to waste effort getting bogged down in details over megajoule recharge limits.
It is not that he does not care – because he does observe the fan data and listens to what media and teams say. Plus having the best rules in place is critical to the success of F1.
But F1’s longer-term commercial health is a bigger priority than whether recharge limits should be 7MJ or 8MJ. Those are the detailed arguments that engineers and other series chiefs can sort out best.
This is why Domenicali, for example, having been involved heavily in discussions beforehand to frame the Miami rule change proposals, delegated responsibility to others for this week’s rules meeting so he could attend to other business.
“I don’t see all these things that are so frustrating,” he says. “The vast majority of people watching around the world are not caring about joules, megajoules, these clips, super clips. They don’t know what we’re talking about.
“So we need to stand up and explain to them the great form of F1 that it is today. That is our role.
“I don’t want to dismiss the things that you are pushing me on that. I’m not an engineer. I don’t want to be an engineer. I’m not interested in [being an] engineer.
“I’m listening, but engineers are part of the bigger picture of what we are producing, and this is really what is relevant to me.
“Every one of us has a different role, but for me, the bigger picture is the success of the sport that today, as I said, and really thanks also to you [media], is in a great moment.”