By Dylan MacIsaac
The FIA could consider moving the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix due to conflict between Iran and the rest of the Middle East, according to Sky Sports’ Formula One expert Craig Slater.
Pirelli, the competition’s tyre supplier, have called off a two-day test due to take place in Bahrain.
The US and Israel’s attacks on Iran have resulted in Bahrain and many neighbouring countries being hit by Iranian missiles targeting US bases.
Details on potential changes
Mercedes and McLaren were due to take part in the test, with 50 staff from each and 20 personnel from Pirelli being ‘marooned’.
A decision on rescheduling doesn’t appear imminent, and Slater claims the FIA told him that they are: “Monitoring the situation but won’t make any knee-jerk reactions.
“There are still four or five weeks to go until those events are due to take place, and maybe there can be an amelioration of the situation; a ceasefire, a de-escalation, or something along those lines.”
F1’s governing body has previously shown willingness to be flexible with the schedule.
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Struggles to adjust a packed F1 calendar
In 2021, the Turkish Grand Prix was cancelled and replaced with the Styrian Grand Prix due to COVID restrictions, before being reinstated in place of a cancelled Singapore event.
Slater gave his take on where the races could be moved, stating the lack of space in an ever-expanding schedule.
“It’s a big calendar, that’s the first thing,” he added on Sky Sports. “It’s not easy to think where you can slot those races back in.
“There is a little bit of a three-week gap in May, and there’s the August summer break, but that’s very hot in the Middle East to be adding a race in there.”
The teams will return to Asia in October, and Slater notes that this could be a favourable time for a rescheduled event.
“Potentially around Singapore, might it be possible if they can’t run Bahrain or Saudi Arabia that they could slot it back in there potentially?
“The problem is you’ve got clusters of two races, sometimes three together.
“I don’t think Formula One would be keen to have four weekends in a row of action because it’s just a logistical headache.”
Rescheduled event the most likely
He adds that it would be unlikely for another race to slot in at such short notice, claiming it’s “maybe not a practical idea for say Turkey or another event host to step in at short notice”.
“Then you’re looking at potentially, do you exceed the 24 events on the calendar? That’s not going to happen, so I think it would be a rescheduling thing we’re looking at.”
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