F1 set to push ahead with Qatar and Abu Dhabi races despite missile strikes

F1 team principals told us last month that the sport was intending to make a final decision on its Qatar and Abu Dhabi races in the middle of October.

It is now the middle of October and, somewhat unexpectedly, both of those races remain on the calendar.

While the prevailing expectation has been that the lack of any official cancellation has been down to F1 and the race organisers playing chicken over who will eat the big financial blow of one race being cancelled and the other being moved, ESPN report that the sport is seriously planning to keep the races as they are.

That is despite continued Houthi missile attacks in the region, largely focused on Saudi Arabia – including on the headquarters of Aston Martin title sponsor Aramco, barely 100 miles from the Lusail circuit where the Qatar Grand Prix is held.

Counter to previous expectations that a formal announcement would be made one way or the other, F1 sources have told the outlet that there will be no official statement made if the races stay in place because, as far as they're concerned, the calendar speaks for itself and stands as written.

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It's also reported that a call could come down from F1 to cancel the Qatar race and shift Abu Dhabi to Imola as late as mid-November, completely contrary to what Audi team principal Mattia Binotto told the press in Baku when he said: "As we discussed during the F1 Commission last Monday, mid-October is the last call for such a decision."

Of course, F1 CEO Stefano Domanicali had previously promised a final decision 'before the middle of September'.

Unsurprisingly, the baffling handling of the decision-making process has 'created a confusing dynamic behind the scenes' for teams, whose logistics planning has understandably been made more complex by the situation.

Domanicali said last month: "Yes, as we've already said, the calendar is confirmed: the last two Grands Prix will be in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. This is the direction we've taken based on the information and reassurances we have – and which we absolutely must have, of course. It's the strategy we'll apply until the end of the year."

It was later clarified that 'confirmed' didn't actually mean 'confirmed', with F1 admitting that the two races in the Middle East are still not set in stone.

Aside from the uncertainty for teams and fans, there's also a growing chance that – if Qatar is cancelled – Kimi Antonelli could win his first drivers' championship while sat at home.

If his points lead, which currently stands at 102, doesn't shrink at the US Grand Prix, then a cancellation announcement between Austin and Mexico City would hand the Italian the championship by taking 25 available points off the board. That, it goes without saying, would be a staggeringly anticlimactic way to end a historic season.

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