According to Sky Sports News, there are currently no plans to find replacement events should the races in Bahrain (April 10–12) and Saudi Arabia (April 17–19) be called off.
Both rounds are under serious doubt after Iran launched strikes across parts of the Gulf region in retaliation for US-Israeli air strikes earlier this month, with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia among the countries affected.
Sky Sports News reported that Formula 1 expects to make a decision on the fate of the races by March 20 at the latest. If they do not go ahead, the championship calendar would shrink from 24 races to 22.
That outcome would leave a five-week gap between the Japanese Grand Prix at the end of March and the Miami Grand Prix in early May.
Circuits such as Imola and Portimao have been mentioned as possible stand-ins, but Sky Sports News understands there would not be enough time to organise replacement events for the mid-April slots.
Formula 1 president Stefano Domenicali said the situation remained under review as the sport monitors developments in the region.
“First of all, our approach first of all is safety for all of the relevant stakeholders, people and the promoter itself,” he told Sky Sports F1.
“We don’t want to do any statement today because things are evolving and we still have time to make the right decision. This decision will be taken together.
“So far, we want to keep quiet and calm and make sure we have the right time to make the right decision – as we did in the past.”
Domenicali is due to meet with team bosses during the Australian Grand Prix weekend in Melbourne, where the potential cancellation of the two races is expected to be discussed.
McLaren chief executive Zak Brown indicated the priority across the paddock remains the safety of everyone involved.
“It’s the first get-together of all the teams. There’s been very little communication about it yet because of the effort that it took just to get here to Australia,” he said.
“Obviously, the sport, ourselves, the fans, the partners, our race team, all that will be of the utmost importance from a safety point of view.
“We’ll just have to see how things play out and we’ll make the right decision for the health of everybody involved in the sport.”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said the seriousness of the situation in the region meant Formula 1 must take a step back.
“First of all, Formula 1 in a way becomes the second priority,” he said.
“It’s such an important topic in the region that it’s even quite difficult, I guess, to talk to the local leaders and say: ‘What about the Grand Prix?’.
“I think this is up to Stefano as a promoter and the FIA to manage that situation while respecting the current challenges that they have.
“My hunch is I would very much hope we race. Is it realistic that we race there at the moment? I’m not quite sure.
“But again, I leave it to Stefano to manage that situation. I hope generally it gets better there so we are able to come back as soon as possible.”
The conflict has already caused disruption to the Formula 1 paddock, with a planned Pirelli tyre test in Bahrain involving McLaren and Mercedes being cancelled last week, while several teams faced logistical challenges travelling to Melbourne due to flights originally booked through the Gulf region.
“It has not been an easy week,” Domenicali said.
“When we saw the things happening, of course, we had people in Dubai and Bahrain for a Pirelli test which we had to cancel. We had people in Doha.
“We had a lot of flights booked through the Middle East, so it has been a very intense couple of days to reschedule everything with the help of the governments.
“We had a special program to take all of the people in this region out, which was a challenge, therefore to be here is a great success.
“People sometimes believe it’s just 30 or 40 people in a team. We have 3000 people who have to move around the world. It’s a big beast.”
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