With military action currently underway across the Middle East many of the region’s major international airports are closed, as is the surrounding airspace.
Given flights from Europe to Melbourne typically stop in Doha, Dubai or Abu Dhabi, this is posing early-season logistical headaches for F1 teams scrambling to get equipment and team members to Melbourne for the opening round of the season.
Flights are urgently being re-routed through Hong Kong, Singapore and Perth.
Not without a somewhat sombre dose of irony the Australian Grand Prix naming rights sponsor is Qatar Airways, one of the airlines currently forced to ground many of its flights due to the conflict.
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Despite the current challenges F1 organisers remain confident next weekend’s 2026 season opener in Melbourne will proceed as planned as will the second and third rounds in China and Japan respectively.
However, with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia due to host the fourth and fifth races of the F1 season next month, officials are said to be watching the Middle East situation closely.
“Our next three races are in Australia, China and Japan and not in the Middle East—those races are not for a number of weeks,” an F1 spokesperson said overnight.
“As always, we closely monitor any situation like this and work closely with relevant authorities.”