
Despite geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, Stefano Domenicali confirms that the last two races of the season will take place.
AI-generated summary
F1 faces pressure to cancel races in conflict zones. Alternatives like Imola had been considered.
Formula 1 boss Stefano Domenicali announced on Saturday, against all expectations, the maintenance of the last two Grands Prix of the season in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, despite the strong geopolitical tensions persisting in the Middle East.
“With the information we have, everything is confirmed for (that we stay) in Qatar and Abu Dhabi”, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, declared to the French broadcaster Canal+ the Italian leader, on the sidelines of the Bahrain GP which was to be held in the spring and was relocated to the Sepang circuit, in Malaysia, this weekend.
See you in the Middle East on November 29 and December 6
At Sky Sport Italia, the boss of the premier discipline of motorsport then “confirmed the schedule for the last two GPs” of the year, on November 29 and December 6, in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, two Arab Gulf monarchies affected for months by the military conflict between the United States, Iran and Israel.
Mr. Domenicali said he had “the assurance that everything was in order” and assured that “we kept the teams and drivers informed of the situation, without filter”, in case the situation were to deteriorate further by the end of the year.
An F1 Grand Prix represents a budget of several tens of millions of dollars and Mr. Domenicali told Canal+ that “99% of tickets” had been sold for the Abu Dhabi GP, which arouses “great enthusiasm”.
As for the drivers, it is now a question of seeing how they will react to this announcement.
Max Verstappen, who will start in pole position on Sunday in Malaysia, expressed, last weekend to the ViaPlay channel, his frank reluctance to go racing on the circuits of the Gulf countries.
“I am usually happy to go to Qatar and Abu Dhabi, but there is a war nearby and if certain countries are in conflict, I think we should not go there,” argued “Mad Max”, renowned for its frankness.
Thursday, at a press conference in Sepang, the Dutch quadruple world champion said diplomatically that he was counting on the “FIA (International Automobile Federation) and F1 to make the right decision”.
A plan B in Imola
One of the plans B mentioned was to move the Emirati meeting to Imola (Italy).
The two GPs in Bahrain and Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) scheduled for April had been canceled. Finally, that of the small Bahraini kingdom was able to be moved to Southeast Asia, but organized and paid for by the Arab country.
Another automobile discipline, endurance racing (WEC), replaced Bahrain and Qatar with Barcelona (Spain) and Monza (Italy) at the end of the year.
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
GPs held in Qatar and Abu Dhabi on November 29 and December 6.
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