FIA president backs Qatar and Abu Dhabi F1 finales to go ahead despite regional conflict

The fate of Formula 1's season-ending Middle East double-header has been decided — for now. Speaking at Biggin Hill in England on Tuesday, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem said the Qatar and Abu Dhabi grands prix will go ahead as planned despite the ongoing war with Iran and the wider conflict in the Gulf region. Lusail is scheduled to host its race on November 29, with Yas Marina closing the season a week later on December 6.

The announcement brings a measure of certainty to a championship that has been planning around war since February, when United States and Israeli strikes on Iran precipitated a regional conflict that continues to simmer. Container ships have been fired upon and sunk near the Strait of Hormuz in recent weeks, and the war has already rewritten large parts of the 2026 motorsport calendar.

"Yeah, fine," Ben Sulayem said when asked whether the situation in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates was acceptable for racing. "Does this say that there is nothing going to happen? I cannot predict this. I can only tell you today that there is nothing and the two races are going to happen."

The Emirati president, whose children live in the Emirates, made the personal stakes of the decision plain. "I have my children there. You think I would leave them there and I'm here now with you [if it was dangerous]?" he asked. Asked whether he was happy for FIA staff to travel to the events, he added: "I don't think the FIA staff would be more important to me than myself or my family. But if I am there it means I feel secure about this."

Why the doubt existed

The season has already been reshaped by the conflict. The Bahrain and Saudi Arabian grands prix, originally scheduled for April, were cancelled when war broke out. Bahrain's organisers instead staged a Bahrain-branded race in Malaysia earlier this month — the first time the championship has run a relocated national grand prix in the modern era.

Qatar and Abu Dhabi survived the early season intact, but the risk has never gone away. F1 initially set a mid-September deadline for a firm decision on the finales, then postponed it to mid-October, with Imola mentioned throughout as a backstop. In recent weeks, though, the paddock mood shifted from expecting an inevitable cancellation to planning as normal, with organisers selling tickets and announcing musical acts for both events.

Ben Sulayem's remarks match that shift. F1 personnel are now being told to assume Qatar and Abu Dhabi go ahead unless instructed otherwise, and F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali — who attended the Biggin Hill opening of the new FIA Remote Operations Centre but did not speak to reporters — has stated that the calendar is confirmed.

What has already been lost

While F1's two finales are surviving, other motorsport events in the region have not been so fortunate. The FIA World Rally Championship was due to finish in Saudi Arabia on November 11–14, but that round was cancelled because of the security situation, with the Italian round in Sardinia now concluding the championship this month. Ben Sulayem revealed that the Jeddah-based rally, which had remained in the Middle East championship calendar, has now been cancelled too after local organisers asked for it to be scrapped two days ago.

January's Dakar Rally, held in Saudi Arabia since 2020, faces an even bigger question mark. Multiple publications have reported that teams have been told the 2027 edition will start in Europe and cross into Africa by ferry instead of running in the Middle East, amid the escalating parallel war between Saudi forces and Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Houthis have targeted sites in Saudi Arabia including Riyadh's international airport, where at least 13 people were killed.

"Of course, the FIA is always ready," Ben Sulayem said when asked whether Imola remained prepared to step in. He added that the governing body has made preparations "to have another team from the FIA ready" in case individual governments' travel restrictions or advice prevent any key F1 personnel from attending either Gulf race.

The cautious optimism of the paddock

Ben Sulayem drew a careful distinction between confidence and certainty, and between events that can be safeguarded and those that cannot. On the uncertain Dakar, he said the FIA would "never take our staff or drivers or any officials to a place where we feel it is risky — no way."

For F1's own races, he argued that reporting from outside the region exaggerated the danger. "What you read in the media is actually different than what we have there," he said. "Otherwise why would I stay there? Why would I leave my family there?"

The sport is pressing on elsewhere too. Qatar's MotoGP round, scheduled for November 8, is also going ahead, with teams told this week that the race will take place. And the immediate focus is the United States Grand Prix at Austin's Circuit of the Americas this weekend.

But the war has not ended, and the FIA's own comments contain the caveat that matters most. Ben Sulayem said he could not predict the future — only that, as of today, nothing is stopping two of the most lucrative races on the calendar. With the United States due to increase troop numbers in the region and reports suggesting a bombing campaign could resume after the November 3 elections, "today" is doing a lot of work. For the drivers, teams and thousands of fans already holding tickets for Lusail and Yas Marina, the races are on. The season finale will be watched on two fronts — the championship and the horizon.