Stefano Domenicali maintains Qatar and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix despite Middle East tensions

Stefano Domenicali surprised Saturday given the high tensions in the Middle East. The Formula 1 boss announced the continuation of the last two Grands Prix of the season in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, sparking skepticism within the paddock.

“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 the Italian leader to the broadcaster Canal+, on the sidelines of the GP contested this weekend on the Sepang circuit, in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

A strong economic challenge

At Sky Sport Italia, the boss of the premier discipline of motorsport also “confirmed the schedule for the last two Grands Prix” 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. Stefano Domenicali claimed to have had “the assurance that everything was in order” and promised that “we would keep the teams and drivers informed of the situation, without filter”.

An F1 Grand Prix represents a budget of several tens of millions of dollars and Stefano Domenicali stressed that “99% of tickets” had been sold for the Abu Dhabi GP, which arouses “great enthusiasm”.

On the paddock side, drivers and teams remained silent on Saturday evening but anonymous sources within two teams expressed doubts about this announcement. “There is nothing new,” one of them contested with AFP and “a final decision will be made within two weeks,” added another.

Reluctant “Mad Max”

The quadruple Dutch world champion Max Verstappen, whose voice carries, 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”. Thursday, at a press conference in Sepang, he added more diplomatically that he was counting on the “FIA (International Automobile Federation) and F1 to make the right decision”. One of the plans B mentioned was to move the Emirati meeting to Imola, Italy.

Our articles on the war in the Middle East

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. The World Endurance Championship (WEC) replaced Bahrain and Qatar with Barcelona (Spain) and Monza (Italy) at the end of the year.