The season that just came to an end was one of the greatest in Formula 1’s history, with a tight championship battle that came down to the very last – and very controversial- lap and many memorable moments. One that left F1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali rather satisfied.

“We are coming from an extraordinary season, followed by more than two billion people,” he told Motorsport.com.

“The last Abu Dhabi GP was the most watched sporting event in 2021. These are stratospheric numbers that we must be proud of.”

Looking ahead to the 2022 season, however, Domenicali admitted there are still many matters to settle down, including the deteriorated relationship between RedBull and Mercedes.

“We have many doubts and we have to face them. We have issues that will eventually have to be dealt with in order to grow. We will have to asses day by day the relationship that must be restored between RedBull and Mercedes, to avoid personalisms that we have seen and that serve no purpose.“

A season, that of 2022, set to bring many significant changes around the paddock with the debut of the new single-seaters.

“The ground-effect cars were designed to highlight the drivers’ skills. It’s cars that should be driven without the wake effect that deteriorates the tyres. The goal is to have duels between many drivers, without the limits linked to the car,” he explained.

“Clearly in the context of a season that starts with new regulations and the budget cap, there could arise greater differences between the cars than what people might expect. However, I am equally sure that the limitations linked to the new regulations will allow that, if there are these differences, the gap will be filled more quickly.“

“We will have to understand what development will be brought to the new single-seaters between now and the end of 2022, to understand if there will be anything that needs to be balanced out. The matters are numerous, but it’s things that are part of our job and that we will have to deal with,“ he concluded.

The new season also comes with a change of leadership at the FIA, that saw Mohammed Ben Sulayem stepping in as the new President. A change that will inevitably have an impact on Formula 1 as well.

“With the change of presidency within the FIA ​​there may also be a change in the balance within the International Federation, which for us has an absolutely fundamental role,” commented Domenicali.

“We have already spoken with the President, we talked about the priorities he will have to face and it’s many, but at this stage it is right to remain silent so as not to create any further controversy in an area that was already quite heated.”