Domenicali 'totally confident' 2023 title fight will go down to the wire

Stefano Domenicali says Red Bull's rivals were not up to the task of challenging the bulls in 2022, but F1's chief executive is "totally confident" the championship will go down to the wire next season.

Max Verstappen secured his second world crown in Japan last month, with four races to spare while Red Bull sealed the Constructors' title in Austin after another master class performance by the Dutchman.

The bulls were the class of the field this year, but Domenicali believes that "another team" perhaps squandered its chances of keeping Verstappen and his team on their toes, a clear dig at Ferrari's failure to uphold the strong momentum it enjoyed at the start of the season with Charles Leclerc.

"In this case Red Bull, and Max Verstappen, did an incredible job," the Italian recognized. "Maybe it’s another team didn’t take the right opportunity.

"But what we saw on the track, the wheel-to-wheel racing, that’s what we wanted. And I’m totally confident that next year the fight on the track will arrive [until] the end of the calendar."

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Domenicali insists the early end to the title fight hasn't taken much away from the attention garnered by Formula 1 as it winds down its season, with a runner-up spot in the championship still up for grabs and mid-field positions that are well worth fighting for.

"The last races, on the sporting side, there is a lot of attention," he said.

"There is a fight for places that also for the team’s perspective is related to their financial position and the financial reward if they achieve a position better than the other teams.

"So I think that there would be a lot of interest in Brazil and Abu Dhabi too, no problem."

F1 announced its third quarter financial results this week, a report that was well received by Wall Street analysts.

Asked if an early conclusion to F1's title fight could financially impact the sport or attendance numbers, Domenicali said: "We don’t see any kind of risk at all.

"First of all, we have the last two races we sold out tickets and the numbers are really growing.

"The attention will be shifted, of course, on other fights from the sporting perspective. That’s part of racing."

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