Middle East Conflict Puts F1’s Season Finale at Risk

The 2026 Formula 1 season faces its final stretch with a shadow of uncertainty hanging over the calendar. The conflict in the Middle East, which already forced the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia events in April, now threatens to alter the closing of the championship, scheduled for the Qatar and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix. Stefano Domenicali, Formula 1 CEO, has assured that both races will be held as planned but the organization has already activated a contingency plan that includes the Imola circuit as a possible alternative venue.

The trigger for this concern was the drone and missile attack carried out by the Houthis of Yemen against facilities of the oil company Saudi Aramco in Dhahran on October 12 and 13, although the attack only caused material damage to an administrative building, without victims, the proximity of Aramco's headquarters to the Losail circuit in Qatar (about 164 kilometers away) has generated a logical concern among the drivers and Formula 1 personnel. The rebels who respond to Iran, are intensifying their offensive against Saudi Arabia and their missiles are increasingly precise and longer-range.

Daniel Vittar, a journalist expert in international politics consulted explained that the conflict is escalating and that the Houthis are reaching more important targets in the Persian Gulf: "Yes, it is possible that Qatar and Abu Dhabi are targets of the Houthi rebels, the militias are willing to attack the most sensitive places, in fact they launched missiles against the airport of Saudi Arabia, despite the fact that it is a center of civil circulation" Vittar noted. The expert was blunt when advising the F1 CEO: "I would tell him to avoid the Middle East in its entirety. There are places that still preserve some calm, as in the case of Qatar but the war affects places of commercial and civil movement such as airports and ports".

Formula 1 as a global company cannot afford the breach of contracts or commercial commitments and needs to guarantee a minimum number of races per year. That was one of the reasons why they made an effort to recover the Bahrain Grand Prix which was finally held in Sepang, Malaysia, at the beginning of October, now the contingency plan contemplates the possibility that Imola, the historic Italian circuit that this year was not part of the calendar, hosts the closing of the season if the conflict escalates and compromises the Qatar and Abu Dhabi events.

For the moment the dates remain firm. Formula 1 and Formula 2 plan to contest the last two events of the championship in the Middle East on November 29 and December 6, in the top category Kimi Antonelli has the title practically sentenced given his enormous advantage over his rivals.

In Formula 2, the Brazilian Rafael Câmara, recently confirmed by Haas for 2027 leads the championship with only seven points of advantage over Nikola Tsolov; the outcome of both categories, however, could be conditioned by a conflict that as Vittar warns, "will have the last word".