FIA President confirms Qatar and Abu Dhabi ‘are going to happen’ as ‘risk’ disputed

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem has confirmed that he would be happy to send FIA staff to the Middle East, stating that the reality in the region is not as the media would have you believe.

F1 is set to travel to Qatar and Abu Dhabi for the final rounds of the 2026 season, despite other national and international competitions steering clear.

Qatar and Abu Dhabi ‘are going to happen’

The F1 season appears set to conclude in the Middle East, despite continued instability in the region.

As tensions flared in the early phase of the year, the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian rounds were postponed. Although Bahrain was able to slot back in after striking a deal with Malaysia to host its round in Sepang, the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was ultimately cut for the year.

The continued and unpredictable situation in the Middle East has done nothing to ease speculation that Qatar and Abu Dhabi could also be axed, with Imola on standby as a backup option to host the season-ending round.

Most recently, the Aramco facility in Saudi Arabia was struck by a missile – the factory based approximately 160km from the Lusail International Circuit in Qatar.

Speaking about the Dakar Rally, which is set to take place in Saudi Arabia, Ben Sulayem told media, including PlanetF1.com, “We will never take our staff or drivers or any officials to a place where we feel it is risky. No way.”

Asked if this means he believes that Qatar and Abu Dhabi are “fine” at the moment, he continued: “Yeah, fine.

“One thing I would say; I have my children there. I’m here, but they are there. You think I would leave them there, and I am here now with you [if it was not safe]?

“Also, you have to be sensible in this and say, are we going to have an issue? One thing: what you read in the media is actually different than we have there. We read, and we see the TV [and think], God, where is it? We don’t have that really. Otherwise, why would I stay there? Why would I leave my family?

“But does this mean 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.”

FIA President: ‘If I am there, it means I feel secure about it’

While there has been consistent speculation on how the 2026 F1 season will conclude, the championship itself has been consistent in its response, maintaining that the calendar is confirmed until it is not.

Emphasising once more that safety is his primary concern, and turning back to the Dakar Rally, Ben Sulayem added: “I don’t think the FIA staff would be more important to me than myself and my family. But if I am there, it means I feel secure about it. But we don’t know.

“For the time being, as I said, the Dakar. If we hear anything from them, we will adjust. When I say them, I mean the federation of motorsport in Saudi Arabia. We will adjust to that, and we will help. Like when we helped with Bahrain.”

Prepared for a late change in venue or travel advice by certain governments, the FIA has put plans in place to ensure that wherever F1 races, there will be a full team of personnel ready to jump into action.

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“The FIA is always ready,” he said.

“I told the GM to have another ready team from the FIA if there was nothing going on, but maybe some of the governments say, you know, you cannot travel. So what do we do?

“I mean, if everybody is there and then the teams are there and the FOM is running it, and suddenly we say, ‘Oh, we cannot have our race director, we cannot have our stewards. And no, you cannot’.

“No. You have to be ready, and you have another. You have to have another team ready, just in case.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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