Maffei out, question-mark over Domenicali’s F1 future

A big question mark continues to hang over Stefano Domenicali’s top job in Formula 1.

Liberty Media, the sport’s owner, has announced that its CEO, Greg Maffei, is to step down.

His full-time replacement was not named, ramping up speculation that Maffei could be a victim of the US government investigations into Liberty’s rejection of the FIA-approved Andretti-Cadillac team entry bid.

However, sources told authoritative sources that Maffei’s departure is not linked to the allegations of anti-competitive and cartel-like behaviour.

But Domenicali, the F1 CEO, has been personally named by the US investigations so far, with Corriere della Sera newspaper believing the Italian is "even more central to the American group’s plans" than Maffei was.

Domenicali is still "awaiting contract renewal," correspondent Daniele Sparisci wrote on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, F1’s commercial boss, Emily Prazer, who is also in charge of the F1-promoted Las Vegas GP, says the event is not going to switch to the sprint race weekend format.

"No," she told reporters ahead of next weekend’s glitzy event that races down the fabled Las Vegas ’Strip’. "Basically, the race in itself essentially feels like a sprint race.

"So I think we’re quite comfortable letting Austin and Miami keep the sprint because we’ve got so much more happening anyway that we’re in a really good place."