Domenicali Evaluates Barcelona's Future Amidst Spanish GP Showcase
Jun.20 - F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali says it remains possible he will agree to sign a new race contract with Barcelona.
On Wednesday, before this weekend's Spanish GP, the Italian joined some 40,000 locals in the centre of the city for a pre-weekend showcase event featuring Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and Alpine's Jack Doohan at the wheel of demo cars.
With Madrid joining the schedule from 2026, the city centre event in Barcelona is part of a concerted push to convince Formula 1 that two grands prix in Spain is possible for the calendars of the future.
Domenicali admits he is impressed with what he saw on Wednesday.
"I must say that (Circuit de Catalunya CEO) Oriol Sagrera's work since he took over has been incredible and very professional," he told Diario AS.
"I don't like to say in public what is right and what is wrong, but the objective for Barcelona is to improve what is offered to the fans.
"But for now we are focused on the short-term on making this event fantastic. Afterwards, we will talk about the future at the appropriate time. That stays between us," Domenicali added.
However, he freely admits that it is not ideal that Spain would have two separate races in both Madrid and Barcelona beyond 2026.
"On the one hand, you could say no," said the F1 CEO. "On the other, you could say that there is potential to grow.
"With Fernando (Alonso) and Carlos, Spanish sponsors are very interested in our sport and we have reached a great agreement with DAZN for the television rights.
"The time will come to make the decision for the future. There is still the possibility," he insisted. "So while it's difficult, I don't want to rule it out.
"It will be considered when the time comes."
One possibility, Domenicali admits, is that Barcelona could be a candidate for F1's apparent plans to annually alternate certain European races.
"Europe can maintain the current number of races, more or less," he said, "and we will remain stable with 24 grand prix.
"The opportunity for Europe is to do race alternation in the coming years, because now we are a true world championship rather than a very European championship."
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Montmelo, of course, couldn't do bi-annual alternation with Madrid simply because bi-annual hosting is economically unviable for temporary circuits, so only with another fully permanent circuit, albeit I don't quite see many options, given Spa-Zandvoort & Monza-Imola will likely start doing such rotation, unless Montmelo starts doing so with either Italian or Benelux circuit instead, meaning the other part from the above combinations would remain among the annual locations.
F1 hasn't exactly been a very European championship for a long time anyway.
I forgot to mention, that Sainz & Doohan didn't drive demo cars per se, but 2022 machinery or at least the former.
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