Complicated situation
The trailblazer was the WEC, which has postponed the Qatar 1812 Km – which was supposed to open the Endurance World Championship season – rescheduling it to a date to be determined; but soon F1 and MotoGP could follow suit. The war that began last Saturday with the bombings of the USA and Israel on Iran and the subsequent missile attacks by the Islamic republic on various countries bordering the Persian Gulf are significantly alarming the two- and four-wheel paddocks. Both championships have already experienced significant logistical difficulties in departing from Thailand (MotoGP side, with some insiders and sponsors who have still not managed to leave the country) and in arriving in Australia (F1 side).
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Gené’s experience
On the TV program El Larguero, on Cadena SER, Ferrari ambassador Marc Gené spoke, revealing how complicated the travel to reach Melbourne was: “Most of us were traveling with Emirates and passing through that part of the world – the Sky Sport commentator emphasized, referring to the area affected by the conflict – because it is on the way and because there are no planes that can reach Australia without refueling”. Gené, however, also pointed out how it could have been much worse if the calendar had been that of a couple of years ago, with the first GP scheduled in Bahrain: “We could have been stuck there”, he highlighted.
The problem is that F1 has two consecutive races scheduled in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia on the weekends of April 12 and 19 respectively. Gené candidly admitted that there is no certainty that the two GPs can take place: “Australia, China, and Japan will definitely happen and then we will see. But the FIA needs to know well in advance, because at least fifteen or twenty days’ notice is needed to organize the travel”. If the conflict is not resolved quickly, therefore, there will be serious problems with the Formula 1 calendar for the month of April. In this regard, the words spoken yesterday by American President Donald Trump are certainly not reassuring, as he said that the war should last “4-5 weeks” – therefore at least until early-to-mid April – “but it could last even longer”.
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Alternative plans
The date of April 12 is the one to be considered with the most attention because at the same time as the F1 Bahrain GP, the MotoGP Qatar GP is also scheduled. Formulapassion.it contacted some teams from the World Championship who for now have all confirmed that they have not received any warning of postponements, cancellations, or substitutions. Even in this case, however, time is running out and behind the scenes there are those who are already warning to be ready for possible “alternative calendars”. On the table, in fact, there would be – and this applies to F1 as well as MotoGP – both the possibility of ‘simply’ canceling the races, and that of trying to find alternative locations, even if the very short notice would make the search anything but simple. For the Circus, tracks like Imola, Portimao, and Istanbul Park could represent viable names, but at the moment these are all suggestions or little more. Certainly, however, whether it is two or four wheels, time is running out and the longer the war lasts, the more the chances of keeping the calendars unchanged are destined to decrease.
