Last Updated on September 5 2025, 12:25 pm
Modern society has been rewired by the swipe of a thumb and now Formula One seeks to respond. Children raised on bite-sized videos and rapid-fire content streams now expect everything — news, sport, even education — to arrive in the space of a heartbeat. Formula One, a spectacle built on endurance, strategy and two-hour races, suddenly finds itself out of step with a generation conditioned to tune out after 30 seconds.
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has floated the idea that the Grand Prix may need to adapt, hinting at shorter races, fewer practice sessions and even reverse grids to keep young fans engaged. But on the grid, drivers are pushing back, arguing that the sport should not bend to the fleeting attention spans of society’s latest consumers.
And now the Formula One drivers have pushed back against CEO Stefano Domenicali’s suggestion that Grands Prix could be shortened in a bid to attract more spectators and it appears there’s little appetite for reshaping F1’s traditional Sunday format.
Alonso compares 90 minute football games
Fernando Alonso was one of the first to voice his opposition in the FIA drivers’ press conference, using football matches as an example of a modern sport with ten of millions of young fans. “Football matches are a little bit long; when I sit in front of the TV, I’m not watching the 90 minutes concentrated,” said the Spaniard. “I go to the kitchen, go back, I mean there is always some moments of distraction.
“But no one is talking about having 60 minutes football matches or something like that. It’s a problem of the society and the kids, but not the sport, so probably it’s not needed to change.”Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli, 19, admitted he enjoyed the intensity of Sprint weekends but warned against cutting race length of the Grand Prix.
“I think personally Sprint weekends are fun because they have a lot of activity,” he said. “You have to be on point straight away because you have one practice, then qualifying and then you go into a Sprint Race. But I think shorter races – I don’t think it would really work. Already now with long races we do one-stop strategies with the tyres we have, and you know they would have to implement so many more rules for a shorter race in terms of pitstop.”
‘Bring back refuelling’ says Fernando
Fernando then spiced the pot for further discussion with a suggestion Formula One return to something which was banned in 2010. “If it’s too short, like in some of the Sprint races, if you start with a bad qualifying or whatever, there is not time to execute anything. It’s difficult to follow — all the cars have the same tyre age, there’s no possibility to recover places. So the longer race gives you that possibility, that freedom on the strategy. But yeah, as I said, it’s a difficult topic. Probably refuelling would be the best thing — I’ve said many times. I know this is totally the opposite direction of how it’s going. But when you can choose your fuel load and have different strategies, that changes completely the way the race unfolds and that creates an incredible, attractive strategy and races.”
This brought a challenge from Sky F1’s lead commentator David Croft who recalled: “Sadly there wasn’t much overtaking in the refuelling days but we can talk about that another time.” Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc also urged Domenicali to avoid drastic changes. “I don’t think though that we need significant changes,” the Ferrari driver said.
“I think F1 is going extremely well and that in the last years it really grew. Yeah, for Sprint Races, I’m kind of happy with the number of Sprint Races we have already, but that’s only a personal preference. But yeah, for the rest, I’m not sure what he mentioned and I would love to speak to him before commenting [on] that.”
Verstappen to drive Racing Bull in FP1?
Ocon: ‘Fans want more4 NOT less’
Esteban Ocon echoed the sentiment, arguing that fans want more action, not less. “My opinion is that there’s no need to make a big change about what we have,” said the Frenchman. “I think going to a MotoGP stage would be a bit extreme for sure, to have a Sprint weekend at every race. And I don’t think necessarily the show will be much better for sure. As a fan, what you want to see is more racing. We live in such a consumer world now that we want to see more spectacle, more show, and more frequently.”
The drivers’ responses make clear that F1’s latest flirtation with reinvention has struck a nerve. Alonso summed it up best: society has the attention span of a goldfish, but that doesn’t mean Formula One needs to serve up TikTok-length races. Imagine Monaco reduced to 20 laps or Monza finished before you’ve opened your second beer.
Antonelli’s point about pit stops highlights the absurdity: shorten the races and suddenly the FIA would be writing entire chapters of new rules just to force teams to make more stops. In a sport obsessed with spectacle, the danger is creating gimmickry at the expense of tradition.
Senior Ferrari engineer leaves Hamilton’s corner
US motorsport events last all day
Leclerc’s polite caution, and Ocon’s insistence that “fans want more racing,” are reminders that Formula One’s growth has come without tinkering with its most sacred principle: the Grand Prix. The risk is that in chasing an impatient generation, the sport alienates the very audience that has fuelled its current boom.
In fact, if American culture is the reason for the spread of such fickle attention spans we should take notice of their ability to watch extended motorsport events. Last year the Indy500 attracted more than 350,000 to its annual running and due to thunderstorms and delays in the race, people waited six hours before the three hours long race began.
Similarly with the Daytona500 this year which was a sellout. After Trump jumped back into Airforce One the heavens opened delaying the start of the race for hours. It finished late in the evening and was a fine spectacle as the cars shimmered in the brightness of the floodlights.
The question for the jury is should Formula One bow to short-form culture and shrink its races, or does the Grand Prix format remain untouchable? Are more Sprints a good compromise, or are we heading down a path of gimmicks that even the drivers can’t support? The floor is yours.
Newey casts doubt on Aston Martin’s title chances
Adrian Newey’s move to Aston Martin has been one of the most talked-about stories in Formula 1 this year. With the team preparing for a major push under the new engine regulations in 2026, expectations are naturally high. Yet, despite his unmatched reputation as a design genius, Newey himself appears to be keeping those expectations firmly grounded. His recent remarks, shared through former Formula 1 driver Riccardo Patrese, suggest that Aston Martin might not be ready to fight for the world championship straight away.
This perspective provides an interesting balance between optimism about Aston Martin’s long-term future and realism about the challenges ahead. In what follows, we will explore the details of Newey’s comments, the implications for Aston Martin, and how this fits into the broader picture of Formula 1’s 2026 reset…. READ MORE
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I would prefer races to be longer, not shorter, especially now that the cars are so much more reliable. More tactics, more strategy, more everything