Stefano Domenicali, who has overseen Formula 1's explosive growth on the calendar and popularity in recent years, will stay on as president and chief executive through 2029 through a five-year contract extension, the global racing series and ownership group Liberty Media announced Wednesday.
The 59-year-old Italian has been in charge of F1 since 2021 and has steered the series as it expanded to 24 races, added sprint events and two new U.S. grand prix in Miami and Las Vegas, and will add an 11th team, American-owned Cadillac Formula 1, in 2026. The series is in the final year of its U.S. broadcast deal with ESPN.
“Stefano has been an excellent steward of the business, building on its successful foundation and accelerating Formula 1’s rate of growth both commercially and in fan engagement,” said Derek Chang, president and CEO of Liberty Media. “His energy and enthusiasm for the sport translate into highly effective strategy and results."
Domenicali is a former Ferrari team principal and Lamborghini CEO.
“I am honored to continue to lead this incredible sport, which I love and has been part of my life since my childhood and grateful to the Liberty Media Team for their trust," Domenicali said.
Domenicali took over as president and CEO after the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. The series was on the cusp of rapid growth, notably in the U.S., fueled by its popular “Drive to Survive” series on Netflix and the tumultuous driver's championship duel in 2021 between Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull's Max Verstappen. Verstappen won the title in a disputed final race of the season in Abu Dhabi.
Since then, the series added races in Miami in 2022 and Las Vegas in 2023, and returned to China last year for the first time since the pandemic. It also signed a 10-year sponsorship deal with French luxury brand giant LVMH.
His tenure has not been without bumps in the road. The series initially rejected a bid for the 11th team when it was headed by Michael Andretti, prompting an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department. Domenicali was rumored last year to possibly leave F1 for MotoGP once Liberty's purchase of the global motorcycle racing series was approved.
The Formula 1 season starts Sunday at the Australian Grand Prix, where Verstappen begins his quest for a fifth consecutive title, and Hamilton, now with Ferrari, pursues a record eighth championship.
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
FILE - Formula One President Stefano Domenicali before the start of the Austrian Formula One Grand Prix race at the Red Bull Ring racetrack in Spielberg, Austria, June 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Christian Bruna, File)
ST. LOUIS (AP) — World champions Ilia Malinin and the ice dance duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates will anchor one of the strongest U.S. Figure Skating teams in history when they head to Italy for the Milan Cortina Olympics in less than a month.
Malinin, fresh off his fourth straight national title, will be the prohibitive favorite to follow in the footsteps of Nathan Chen by delivering another men's gold medal for the American squad when he steps on the ice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.
Chock and Bates, who won their record-setting seventh U.S. title Saturday night, also will be among the Olympic favorites, as will world champion Alysa Liu and women's teammate Amber Glenn, fresh off her third consecutive national title.
U.S. Figure Skating announced its full squad of 16 athletes for the Winter Games during a made-for-TV celebration Sunday.
"I'm just so excited for the Olympic spirit, the Olympic environment," Malinin said. “Hopefully go for that Olympic gold.”
Malinin will be joined on the men's side by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, and Maxim Naumov, the 24-year-old from Simsbury, Connecticut, who fulfilled the hopes of his late parents by making the Olympic team.
Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were returning from a talent camp in Kansas when their American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the icy Potomac River in January 2025. One of the last conversations they had with their son was about what it would take for him to follow in their footsteps by becoming an Olympian.
“We absolutely did it,” Naumov said. “Every day, year after year, we talked about the Olympics. It means so much in our family. It's what I've been thinking about since I was 5 years old, before I even know what to think. I can't put this into words.”
Chock and Bates helped the Americans win team gold at the Beijing Games four years ago, but they finished fourth — one spot out of the medals — in the ice dance competition. They have hardly finished anywhere but first in the years since, winning three consecutive world championships and the gold medal at three straight Grand Prix Finals.
U.S. silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik also made the dance team, as did the Canadian-born Christina Carreira, who became eligible for the Olympics in November when her American citizenship came through, and Anthony Ponomarenko.
Liu was picked for her second Olympic team after briefly retiring following the Beijing Games. She had been burned out by years of practice and competing, but stepping away seemed to rejuvenate the 20-year-old from Clovis, California, and she returned to win the first world title by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium two decades ago.
Now, the avant-garde Liu will be trying to help the U.S. win its first women's medal since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006, and perhaps the first gold medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Games.
Her biggest competition, besides a powerful Japanese contingent, could come from her own teammates: Glenn, a first-time Olympian, has been nearly unbeatable the past two years, while 18-year-old Isabeau Levito is a former world silver medalist.
"This was my goal and my dream and it just feels so special that it came true,” said Levito, whose mother is originally from Milan.
The two pairs spots went to Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, the U.S. silver medalists, and the team of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.
The top American pairs team, two-time reigning U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, were hoping that the Finnish-born Efimova would get her citizenship approved in time to compete in Italy. But despite efforts by the Skating Club of Boston, where they train, and the help of their U.S. senators, she did not receive her passport by the selection deadline.
“The importance and magnitude of selecting an Olympic team is one of the most important milestones in an athlete's life,” U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said, "and it has such an impact, and while there are sometimes rules, there is also a human element to this that we really have to take into account as we make decisions and what's best going forward from a selection process.
“Sometimes these aren't easy," Farrell said, “and this is not the fun part.”
The fun is just beginning, though, for the 16 athletes picked for the powerful American team.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Amber Glenn competes during the women's free skating competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Alysa Liu skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Maxim Naumov skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Madison Chock and Evan Bates skate during the "Making the Team" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Gold medalist Ilia Malinin arrives for the metal ceremony after the men's free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
