Formula 1 team bosses confirm that CEO Stefano Domenicali had set a mid-October deadline to determine the fate of the Qatar and Abu Dhabi GP, with Imola on standby as a replacement.
The ongoing conflict in the Middle East between Iran and the United States and Israel has seen violence erupt across the region since February, with bombing becoming a common sight in the Gulf.
Following a bombing campaign that killed Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the nation responded with drone strikes targeting American-affiliated bases and nations in the local area.
The situation then worsened with the Straight of Hormuz by Iran as the country threatened to strike vessels in the waterway, effectively closing down one of the most significant shipping lanes in the world.
With tensions unable to be resolved between the warring parties, the conflict forced the FIA and Formula 1 to take the decision to cancel the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian GPs, unable to guarantee the safety of those attending the event.
There was hope that the races could be restored later on in the year but there has been now window of opportunity to do so with the Saudi Arabian GP remaining cancelled, although the Bahrain GP has been relocated to Malaysia.
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Peace has not been permanently restored between Tehran, Washington and Tel Aviv and the conflict remains ongoing with Iran vowing it will never surrender whilst Donald Trump threatened to “annihilate” the nation at a United Nations summit.
The situation has forced Formula 1 and the FIA to begin re-evaluating alternate venues in order to ensure the calendar fulfils its minimum races requirement, but there is no clarity as to the end of the 2026 F1 season yet.
Fans and teams seek answers as Imola awaits on standby, and now the Formula 1 team bosses confirm deadline for fate of Qatar and Abu Dhabi GP is in mid-October to offer vital preparation time.
“I believe that Stefano was targeting to tell us in mid-October, right? So, we all know what the situation is,” Ayao Komatsu of Haas told media, including Total-Motorsport.com. “I believe that Imola is getting ready in case we have to do it.
“I think the challenges are, for instance, things like European motorhome structure, etcetera. All those people who look after them, they have a winter job, so we need to find alternative people to do that.
“But I’m sure we all, as a family, community, will make sure if we have to do that, that will happen. But hopefully, as a baseline, we can go to Qatar and Abu Dhabi. That would be really good.”
Italy’s Mattia Binotto dismisses winter concerns about Imola replacement
Qatar is expected to be cancelled whilst the Abu Dhabi GP is anticipated to be relocated to the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, but he decision to host a Formula 1 race in Italy in December has been widely criticised.
Along with the logistic question of moving freight to the circuit, which hosted the Emilia Romagna GP from 2020-2025, on short notice critics believe the temperatures could be too cold for the sport to function as intended.
However, Audi‘s Mattia Binotto, who led Ferrari from 2019-2022, believes this is not a problem as the Italian engineer-turned-motorsport-executive thinks Imola will be fine from a technical perspective.
“I don’t think there is much,” Binotto added. “As we discussed during the F1 Commission last Monday, mid-October is the last call for such a decision.
“The main challenges are more organisation and logistics. I would think, from a technical point, often we may say wintertime, snow tyres, but at the end.
“As a matter of fact, the average temperature in Imola in that time of the year is hotter than Las Vegas by the time we’ve got the race in Las Vegas.
“So I don’t think that’s a true concern. It’s more from the organisation and the logistics, really. And again, mid-October, hopefully we may do the right decision.”
Average temperatures at the Las Vegas GP are seven degrees Celsius compared to 10 degrees in Imola in November. The significant difference is Las Vegas is a desert and the weather is predictably dry, whilst Italy could be affected by rain.
