Despite the glaring issues Formula 1 has faced during the start of its all-new era of hybrid engines and active aerodynamic chassis, F1’s CEO—Stefano Domenicali—remains particularly upbeat over the sport’s popularity with the fans.

Many of the race weekends for this year are sold out, with even the eye-wateringly expensive Paddock Club hospitality showing few vacancies for the remainder of the season. Yet, of course, this measure is likely to suffer from some kind of time lag, given fans now often have to book up to a year in advance to secure tickets for their chosen F1 event.

In 2025, the championship appeared destined to go to a new F1 driver until late in the season when Max Verstappen mounted an incredible recovery while McLaren was in an apparent meltdown. This was when many of the tickets for this year were sold. So ticketing may not be the best indicator of the current views of those who are committed to attending a Grand Prix in 2026.

In a recent interview with The Race, Domenicali is more than bullish about the current state of Formula 1, despite swathes of fans on social media suggesting otherwise. “The vast majority of fans has been, since the beginning, very positive of what they see in terms of race action,” stated F1’s CEO with confidence.

“I’m interested to see numbers,” he continued. “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 sponsors or partners would 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.”

On the one hand, Domenicali is citing hard statistics in terms of fan responses to surveys conducted by F1, yet on the other, he refers to the “queue of countries” lining up to host a Grand Prix. Again, the latter metric is time-lagged based on the success of the sport in recent years, and the announcement of the return of the Turkish Grand Prix, of course, is evidence of this.

The Istanbul race was a favorite among drivers and fans when on the F1 calendar, mostly because the circuit design was one of the best of the new venues created since the turn of the millennium. Turn 8 is one of F1’s iconic conjurers; it is a massive, high-speed, quad-apex, left-hander that subjects the drivers to over 5g for several seconds.

The pilots have to “thread the needle” through four distinct apexes while their necks are screaming under the load. In a modern F1 car, it is a test of pure physical endurance and aerodynamic stability. From a fan’s perspective, watching the cars’ suspension compress and seeing the drivers’ heads lean against the cockpit padding provides a visceral sense of the sheer speed and violence of Formula 1.

Add to this there have been plenty of eventful races in Istanbul Park, along with the track being one which facilitates overtaking. Yet the return of the Turkish Grand Prix for 2027 proves nothing about the current state of F1 in the eyes of the viewers.

Much of Domenicali’s positive mood on the health of the sport is due to polling data collected by F1. With around 50,000 fans registered to the official “F1 Fan Voice” community—they are asked after each race weekend for their opinion of what they just watched. The options they have in the multiple-choice questionnaire are as follows: “Excellent, Good, OK, Poor, Awful, Didn’t watch.”

Around 2,000 fans respond to the survey, which many would argue is a statistically sound sample indicative of the views of the wider audience. Here are the responses to the first three race weekends of 2026 as published by The Race.

F1 Fan Voice Survey Results: 2026 vs. 2025

• Australian GP: Excellent 20% (vs 49%); Good 41% (vs 37%); OK 21% (vs 10%); Poor/Awful 17% (vs 4%).

• Chinese GP: Excellent 27% (vs 11%); Good 41% (vs 39%); OK 17% (vs 33%); Poor/Awful 14% (vs 16%).

• Japanese GP: Excellent 12% (vs 4%); Good 36% (vs 14%); OK 26% (vs 29%); Poor/Awful 24% (vs 52%).

With the exception of Australia, the China and Japan polls demonstrate a strong improvement in fans believing the racing was excellent and good. Without getting technical over the lack of data surrounding the increase or decrease in responses, prima facie, this apparently demonstrates F1 is on the up.

Yet other indicators appear to be providing alternative views as to the rude health of the sport. BlackBook Motorsport publishes from time to time the viewing figures of F1 from across the world, yet its latest report seems vague and based on no known data.

“BlackBook Motorsport understands that global audiences have risen year-over-year (YoY) for the races in Australia (23 per cent), China (30 per cent) and Japan (20 per cent). These figures were first reported by Planet F1 and have since been confirmed by an industry source.”

Wow. That is an incredibly murky statement with no supporting data—not even a recognizable source, given Planet F1 do not cite their sources either. Without supporting evidence, these claims are not worth the bytes of internet data they take up.

Further, the fact we are now in May and there are no proper viewing figures for F1 globally is extraordinary. Any statistician worth their salt must smell a rat. Surprisingly, BlackBook Motorsport does not mention there are actually some real viewer numbers available, published by certain European broadcasters themselves.

Again, the data is sketchy and relates only to the most recent Japanese Grand Prix, but the fall in viewer numbers in the sport’s European heartland is massive. Mediaset, DAZN, Canal+, ServusTV, and Sky are the broadcasters for F1 in Germany, Austria, France, Spain, and Italy.

The Japanese Grand Prix showed a huge uplift in Italy of 36% from 2025. But of course, Kimi Antonelli is leading the world championship—the first time for an Italian since Michele Alboreto in 1985.

However, Germany was down 21%, Austria down 36%, France down 43%, and Spain a massive drop of 49% on last year’s event in Suzuka. Again, this is one race, but again it is interesting there are no composite figures available by region/country for the 2026 season, despite us approaching May.

There is one final observation to make on Domenicali’s sample and the results he extrapolates. Just 50,000 fans sign up to F1’s official Voice forums where they are fed a diet of sanctioned and sanitized F1 news with little independent opinion. This is like polling the Moscow population over their views on Vladimir Putin based on the only information they receive about him being from sanctioned state TV reports.

Independent Fan Polling (2026 Regulations)

Amongst the independent websites, the voice of the fans is rather different from the one singing in Domenicali’s ears. A RacingNews365 poll (2,500+ votes) asked for their readers’ opinions on the new 2026 rules.

• RacingNews365: 35% Positive (Awesome/Good) vs. 37% Negative (Not as good/Terrible).

• OverTake.gg: 25% “Yes/Mostly Good” vs. 65% “No/Mostly Bad” regarding the new race trim.

Of course, as the teams begin to arrive in Miami later this week, all the talk will be of how the new rule “tweaks” will positively affect the racing. And given the track is built in the car park of the Miami Dolphins stadium, the jury may remain out until the following weekend at a proper circuit in Montreal.

Given the wide range of metrics Stefano Domenicali could use to understand the feelings of the fans, he appears remarkably deluded to listen only to those who are signed up to the sport’s official website. “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” (Mark Twain)

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