Formula 1’s season-ending Middle Eastern rounds have been plunged into fresh doubt after the World Endurance Championship cancelled races in Bahrain and Qatar overnight.
The WEC had been scheduled to end its season with the Qatar 1812 Kilometres on 24 October and the 8 Hours of Bahrain on 7 November, but the FIA confirmed overnight that neither race would take place “due to the continued uncertainty in the region”.
The round in Qatar had already been postponed from its original season-opening March date after US and Israeli strikes on Iran conflagrated into the ongoing regional conflict.
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In a statement released overnight (Australian time), the FIA said that “the current regional security situation and its effect on freight and travel arrangements obliged the cancellation” of the races.
“The safety of our teams, colleagues and motorsport fans remains our highest priority,” said FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem. “These are never easy decisions, but protecting the wellbeing of our motorsport community will always come first.”
Formula 1 is still planning on ending its season with the Qatar Grand Prix on 29 November and Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on 6 December.
A decision on whether those races go ahead can wait until as late as September, according to F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, when sea freight will have to be dispatched.
Conflict in the Strait of Hormuz and new uncertainty over access to the Red Sea could render both races inaccessible by ocean, though the sport has reportedly considered using air freight instead of sea freight if necessary, which would also buy it more time to make a decision.
Paddock consensus in Budapest at the weekend was that, on balance, both races are more likely to be called off than go ahead as things stand, with the long-anticipated decision of the World Endurance Championship the supporting evidence.
If the races are called off, Formula 1 is expected to replace both with a single round in Europe, with a return to Italy’s Imola touted as the most likely alternative.
Portugal and Türkiye are also in the mix, but reports suggest a December race for either would disrupt capital works planned ahead of both circuits returning to the calendar next season.
The fresh uncertainty follows news that Formula 1 has abandoned its attempt to reschedule the Bahrain Grand Prix on 4 October, having been optimistic of reinstating the race after the United States and Iran signed a ceasefire agreement in June.
The collapse of that agreement earlier this month forced a rethink, however, with Malaysia instead taking the slot sandwiched between the Azerbaijan and Singapore grands prix.
The race will be called the Bahrain Grand Prix of Malaysia in recognition of the Bahraini government funding the event despite it taking place more than 6000 kilometres away.
Piastri rages at race-ruining incident | 03:07
SAINZ TAKEN TO TASK BY SOCIAL MEDIA AI BOT
Carlos Sainz has been bizarrely torched by an AI social media bot over an apparent attempt to minimise his unusual crash with Oscar Piastri at the weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
Piastri had just made his second pit stop from the lead of the race and was fast approaching the back of Sainz’s Williams to lap him at the end of lap 37.
Sainz, however, appeared to ignore as many as eight blue light panels as well as a radio message from his engineer warning that a faster car was attempting to pass him. Typically three ignored blue lights will incur a penalty.
Instead the Spaniard continued battling with compatriot Fernando Alonso for 14th place all the way to the second corner of lap 38, where he took a wide line on exit.
Piastri moved to pass him down the inside, but Sainz collided with the McLaren as he attempted to resume the usual racing line, bumping the Australian off the road.
The time lost in the incident resulted in Piastri losing the lead of the race to Norris, who rejoined the grand prix ahead of his teammate after his stop one lap later.
Posting on social media to share his regular post-race press release, Sainz blamed the crash on a problem with the blue flags system and Piastri appearing out of view of his mirrors.
“It was shaping up to be a good race, but the blue flag system failed,” Sainz wrote in Spanish. “Oscar was in my blind spot when I was battling with Fernando and we made contact.”
But the explanation raised the ire of an AI bot, which submitted a correction to his post via the X community notes feature.
“The FIA stewards determined that the team informed Sainz of the blue flags for car 81 and held him fully responsible for the collision, applying a 5-second penalty despite a mitigating factor of limited visibility,” it wrote, also in Spanish.
Enough real social media users agreed with the AI-generated note, leading to it being publicly affixed to Sainz’s post.
The stewards deemed Sainz “wholly responsible” for the crash though chose to water down the standard 10-second penalty in recognition of Piastri being in the Williams driver’s blind spot just before contact was made.
The failure of the automated blue flags system caused chaos for leaders and backmarkers for most of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
While trackside lights and flags are still the primary communication method, drivers are usually also warned via their steering wheel when they’re about to be lapped by a faster car, ensuring that they understand the lights and flags are directed at them and not at another driver.
However, some drivers also reported that the trackside blue lights were flashing at random times, including when there were no cars behind them, resulting in a loss of trust in the system.
Instead drivers were had to rely on their race engineers informing them of approaching cars, as Sainz’s engineer has done.
The incident triggered Mercedes boss Toto Wolff memorably likening rival engineers to Teletubbies — the gibberish-speaking characters from 2000s British children’s television — after several backmarkers had got in the way of Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s late-race defence of third place ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
“The marshalling system was not functioning, and cars in the back defending [drivers on the lead lap] … it is just disgraceful from some of the Teletubbies engineers that sit on the pit walls of these teams not telling their drivers what’s happening behind,” he told Sky Sports.
Piastri was not mollified by Sainz’s excuses, describing his behaviour as “unacceptable” and “one of the dumbest things” he’d seen on a racetrack.
“He’s quite critical of others,” he said. “Others have given him some stick before for being frustrating on track. When you go and do something like that, I think maybe you should look in the mirror a bit,” he said.
‘Get out of the F***ing way you Idiot!’ | 00:46
NEW HONDA ENGINE GETS FIRST LAPS AHEAD OF AUGUST DEBUT
Aston Martin will get its first taste of Honda’s new engine later today when it takes part in a filming day at the Hungaroring before the midseason break.
The new engine is an integral part of Aston Martin’s midyear revolution to rescue itself from the dire competitive straits of the first 10 rounds of the season.
The first stage of that revolution was the 16-part upgrade package brought to the car for the Hungarian Grand Prix, including a new, lighter chassis and several significant bodywork alterations.
The B-spec car gave Aston Martin by far its best qualifying result of the season, with Fernando Alonso delivering the team’s first Q2 appearance of the year.
The quality of the car has been only half the team’s problem, however, with Honda’s troubled engine the essential other component behind Aston Martin’s struggles.
The Japanese auto giant had been planning to introduce a new motor at the next race in the Netherlands at the end of August, but Honda has now confirmed its only engine upgrade of the year will get its first run in a filming day scheduled for today in Budapest.
“That is a good opportunity to check how our new engine works on the chassis,” said Honda’s trackside general manager and chief engineer Shintaro Orihara, per The Race.
With Aston Martin executing a significant step, Alonso said there was now “some pressure” on Honda to uphold its end of the bargain.
“Honda was trying to help some of the weaknesses of the car at the beginning of the year. Now with the chassis, we try to help Honda as much as we can,” he said.
“It’s a long way to go. We understand that, we are aware of that, but this hopefully is the first step and both factories are gaining confidence and trust in what they do. That probably will be more important than anything else for the next few months.”
The size of Aston Martin’s first recovery step alarmed some midfield teams.
Aston Martin was 3.4 per cent off the eventual pole time, a stark improvement from what had been a 4.7 per cent deficit for the year prior to Budapest.
That equates to a lap time improvement of around 1.05 seconds over an average 80-second lap.
Aston Martin says it has two more packages of aerodynamic upgrades due at the two rounds following the midseason break to go with its new engine, promising further gains.
Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas said he was “a bit scared” of what it meant for his team, which locked out the back row of the grid in Hungary for the first time this season.
Aston Martin also jumped Williams in Budapest, which Alex Albon described as “eye-opening” as he awaits his team’s next big upgrade package in Azerbaijan, four races from now.
Haas, which was only 0.074 seconds quicker in qualifying but had both drivers finish behind both Aston Martin entries, also recognised the big-spending team as a threat.
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