The F1 community has been concerned about the Qatar GP and Abu Dhabi GP amid the ongoing situation in the Middle East. FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem recently came out and issued a statement about the doubts over the final two races of the season.
The F1 Saudi Arabian GP was cancelled, whereas the Bahrain GP was postponed and took place in Malaysia in October at the Sepang International Circuit. The same happened because of the ongoing war in the Middle East.
With the situation still tense, doubts loom over the penultimate race in Qatar and the season finale in Abu Dhabi. Reports of Imola being considered as the alternative for the season finale have been circling the paddock.
The deadline for the FIA to confirm the decision on the final two races was shifted to mid-October. However, the FIA has now come out and suggested that there isn’t any deadline, and that the races will go ahead as planned, unless any unforeseeable situation takes place.
FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem was questioned whether Qatar and Abu Dhabi are safe for the race to go ahead, to which he replied,
“Yeah, fine. One thing I would say: I have my children there [in the UAE]. You think I would leave them there and I’m here now with you [if it was dangerous]? You have to be sensible in this. Saying, ‘Are we going to have an issue?’ is one thing.”
“But what you read in the media is actually different than what we have there. What we read and see on TV, we say, ‘Where is it?’ We don’t have that, really. Otherwise why would I stay there? Why would I leave my family there? Does this say that there is nothing that is going to happen? I can’t predict this. I can only tell you today that there is nothing and the two races are going to happen,” added the FIA President
FIA is ready if Imola needs to be the F1 season finale
While Mohammed Ben Sulayem has confirmed that the races will go ahead, in case the situation gets tense in the Middle East in the coming months, the FIA is open to moving the finale to Imola. Detailing how Imola is prepared to host the season finale in case of an unforeseen circumstance, the FIA President said,
“Of course, the FIA is always ready.”
He detailed how the FIA has another team ready for Imola in case there are travel restrictions from the Middle East.
Valtteri Bottas recently came out and suggested that he’d much rather like to have the season finale in Abu Dhabi because of the taxes in Italy, as well as preferable weather conditions in Abu Dhabi in December.
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