Formula 1 boss Stefano Domenicali should take heed of that old analogy that you cannot bulldust all of the people all of the time.
I had a boss once who had a favorite saying, he’d warn: “You cannot bulldust all of the people all of the time. You can only bulldust some of them, some of the time.”
OK, he never quite used the term bulldust, but you know what I mean.
I also like to kid my wife when she comes back from a tea or a massage with our great friend, Lisa, and will burst out with, “Lisa said…,” and just add whatever “Lisa said”.
Most of the time, what “Lisa said” makes a lot of sense… but sometimes, well… I’m not so sure… And then I just smile. Now hold on to those two thoughts for a sec…
Getting to the point, I always had the greatest respect for Stefano Domenicali. Born in Imola, you could say his die was set. A Bologna University business management graduate, he joined Scuderia Ferrari, worked his way through the finance department, managed Ferrari’s Mugello racetrack and then ran team logistics and personnel.
Appointed Sporting Director in 2002 through the glorious Schumacher years, Stefano was promoted to Team Principal in 2008 and led Ferrari to its most recent World Championship in that’ year’s constructors’ title. Ferrari narrowly missed several other championships through his tenure. He left to lead up new business initiatives at Audi AG in 2014 and was then promoted to Chairman and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini SpA.
So when the man who contributed so greatly to Ferrari’s nine most recent World Championships stepped into Chase Carey’s Liberty Media shoes to lead Formula 1 into the future, as a lifelong ‘fan’ of the sport, I was delighted. Here we had a pragmatic, logical thinking championship winning dynamo to lead our sport on its obvious path forward…Now I’m not so sure anymore
Our Chairman and CEO wasted no time in implementing his global Formula 1 calendar expansion that may one day see us racing 72 weekends a year. With new races from Las Vegas to Saudi Arabia, Miami to Madrid. All in the interests of the sport’s global commercial boom and dazzled by the potential of North America.
Our Stef was of course also in charge of the two most recent Formula 1 rules overhauls. Nobody liked his 2022 technical regulation. Even if his cost cap has been a certain positive.
And then we get to this year’s rules set. Anyone with an inkling of Newton’s laws of the universe and any real engineering nous sounded the alarm bells straight off. The drivers joined the chorus as soon as they’d run the spec on the sim.
Yet our Stef and his team pushed on regardless. Now, since it flopped as massively as it did, he’s simply refused to see the light of day. He blames the carmakers for forcing his arm. Electrification for not happening as the woke promised, and Domenicali calmly carries on telling the world that nothing’s wrong with Formula 1. Like hell it isn’t!
Then last weekend, Domenicali encountered George Lucas at the Hungaroring. A Formula 1 fan from long before Star Wars when he was a cameraman on Frankenheimer’s ’66 Grand Prix flick, George makes no bones how Formula 1 inspired his Star Wars pods including those spectacular Phantom Menace racers.
George later sold to Disney and became a gazillionaire. Today he’s a philanthropist who embraces AI film making and likes visiting Grands Prix. And like our pal Lisa, when “George says” something… hoo boy! Like he did when he bumped old Stefano at the Hungoraring last weekend.
Apparently, well, according to Stefano, that is, “George said” that casual newer Formula 1 fans have zero interest in technical minutiae, complex engineering data or how the cars are driven. Stef reckons that “George said” that today’s ‘F1 fans’ are more fascinated by on-track action, dramatic overtaking, and entertainment value.
And what “George said” is apparently all that Domenicali needs to keep on pushing his bulldust agenda that today’s Formula 1 is swell. Just fine. Interestingly, what “George said” is just the same as what “Lisa said”. It’s just his opinion. And like Lisa, we must respect George and Lisa’s opinions.
What “George said”… is just his opinion
The problem I have with all of this, however, is that Domenicali is carrying on about Lucas’ Formula 1 utterings as if they’re fully justified by statistics, data and his outer worldly AI analyses.
Well, they are not. All this hot air is about Lucas’ own personal opinion on Formula 1. So what “George says” carries about as much weight as what “Lisa says.” Interesting, but what does it really mean, besides nothing?
Now I’m one of those old boomers that Stefano clearly abhors. Like the rest of us in the GrandPrix247 office (yes, a WhatsApp group is considered an office these days) we are all those old Formula 1 dinosaurs who still hold the sport’s technical minutiae, complex engineering data or how the cars are driven, most dear.
I also have a pretty significant social ‘following’. And whenever we poll this sort of thing, it comes out ten to one for our boomer point of view, that A; these new Formula 1 rules are bulldust, B; nine out of ten respondents abhor this battery overtaking nonsense. And C; almost one hundred percent of the people who respond to that on most public forums, want naturally aspirated V8s or V10s back in Formula 1.
But rather than rely on substantiated, clear and independent data, Formula 1 boss Stefano Domenicali tries to off what “George says” as fact. It is not. It’s nowhere near fact. And even if he’s a gazillionaire Star Wars superhero, what “George says” is just what “George says”. And that holds about as much water as what you, me, Lisa, the girl next door, that waitress or the local petrol pump attendant says. It’s just our opinion.
There was something else Domenicali said last week, that’s probably even more relevant.
“As I’ve always said, Formula 1 is far bigger than any single person,” Stefano pointed out. “Formula 1 is bigger than all of us.”
So maybe it’s about time you also applied that to yourself, Mr. Domenicali.
Formula 1 really is bigger than you too, pal. And also remember that you can only bulldust some of the people, some of the time…