F1 admitted there were “headaches and complexities” over navigating the schedule, but insisted it was too early to make a call on the Middle East rounds later this year.
“Everyone can look at the TV, see the news every day that the situation is so fluid and so dynamic,” Liam Parker, F1’s chief corporate relations officer, said in the same Sky News report. “Nobody knows what’s going to happen tomorrow, let alone in September and October.”
If the worst does happen, and F1 is obliged to cancel races in Qatar or Abu Dhabi, or both, there is no contractual obligation to replace them.
Unlike during Covid, when F1 needed to fulfil the minimum number of events that it had guaranteed as part of its big-money TV deals, this time there is no threat to the minimum race requirement. F1 could choose to reduce the season to 20 or 21 races.
There would likely to be significantly more pressure to replace them, however. Certainly more than there was to replace Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. This is because teams will be scrapping by then to finish as high as possible in the constructors’ and drivers’ championships. Anyone just behind will want the chance to eat into their deficit. Rights holders would also expect big audience figures for races at that stage of the season.
Given the time of year, any replacement would likely have to be outside Europe. Telegraph Sport understands Istanbul, which is returning to the calendar for 2027, might not be ready by then. Alternatives could be Fuji in Japan or Sepang in Malaysia, a return to Suzuka, also in Japan, or Melbourne.
