F1 to decide before summer break on recovering Middle Eastern race

Formula 1 has set a summer break deadline to recover one of its postponed Middle Eastern races as it still aims to add Bahrain or Saudi Arabia to the calendar.

Both Middle Eastern races were called off in March amid the US and Israeli attacks on Iran, with the protracted hostilities in recent months requiring the series to make contingency plans in case its season-ending events in Qatar and Abu Dhabi would also be coming under threat of cancellation.

But following the signing of a ceasefire and a memorandum of understanding to resolve the conflict within the next 60 days, Domenicali is hopeful F1 can finish its scheduled calendar as planned and even recover one of the two Middle Eastern races it called off.

"I really hope that we can have all the conditions - safety first, of course, for all our people - that we can go there," Domenicali told Sky.

"If there is something that we can announce related to the possibility if there is any space for what has not been run so far, we're going to do it. In the right moment and in the right conditions."

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Given F1's packed calendar, the only feasible option is to add a race in the one-week gap between the Azerbaijan and Singapore rounds in September, which would most likely be the Bahrain Grand Prix. Domenicali said a decision is needed before F1's August break given the logistics involved.

"I think that the gap to do the eventual possibility of recovering one of the races that we have not done, we need to do it before the summer break," he said when asked about the cut-off point.

F1 has also made contingency plans in the worst-case scenario that Qatar and Abu Dhabi come under threat, with backup plans to head to the Portuguese circuit of Portimao, which would be a test run before the venue officially comes back on the calendar in 2027. The deadline for that decision has been set to mid-September.

"It is the duty of a good organiser or promoter to make sure there are plans in place," Domenicali added. "With regard to the end of the year, for us that's in place and the decision has to be made by the middle of September."