F1 boss: Removing battery usage from TV is good - Star Wars director told me so

Star Wars themed edit with Hamilton, Piastri, Norris, Verstappen, Alonso and Russell in the foreground — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

F1 boss: Removing battery usage from TV is good - Star Wars director told me so

The Force is strong with this on--nope, his battery ran out again

Chris Deeley

Thursday 30 July 2026 23:13

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F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has provided a bizarre defence of one of the sport's more controversial broadcast choices.

Battery charge and usage information was conspicuous by its absence during recent high-speed, high-usage races at Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps, leading to a number of fan complaints.

The prevailing theory among those fans, especially with the graphics popping back up again at the low-deployment Hungarian Grand Prix, is that F1 is trying to avoid highlighting the artificiality of overtaking under the new regulations.

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Domenicali offered a strange and unsatisfying answer to a question about the graphics when speaking to the media this week, suggesting that the decision is vindicated because Star Wars creator George Lucas told him so.

Domenicali: I had a discussion with George Lucas in Hungary

The former Ferrari team principal claimed that Lucas told him 'new fans' of the sport have no interest in the process of driving the car and overtaking, instead being 'fascinated' with the fact that the on-track action exists.

"No one is interested in how you drive your car," he said. "I had an interesting discussion with George Lucas in Hungary, and he was giving me an incredible view on how the new fans are watching F1.

"They are fascinated by the fact that there is a lot of action. [They are] not interested in the angle of throttle, or the percentage of brake pressure on how you can overtake a driver."

Of course, Lucas himself has famously been at odds with large sections of his own fanbase for decades, continually proving and re-proving that he has somewhere between little and no concern for what they want or what feedback he receives.

Probably the perfect person to take creative notes from. In unrelated news, Jar-Jar Binks is slated for a Cadillac drive starting in 2029, the 2021 season finale has been retroactively edited so that Michael Masi never interfered, and a faintly irritating teenager is now the most important charac---oh, hang on...

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F1 Stefano Domenicali