{"id":911507,"date":"2026-09-27T10:56:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T10:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/911507\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T10:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T10:56:10","slug":"f1-news-verstappen-says-f1-should-not-race-in-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/911507\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 News: Verstappen says F1 should not race in Middle East"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>(GMM) Max Verstappen says Formula 1 should not travel to Qatar and Abu Dhabi if the regional security situation remains as it is.<\/p>\n<p>The four-time world champion told Viaplay that safety should outweigh the commercial and contractual importance of the final two rounds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI usually look forward to trips to Qatar and Abu Dhabi, but when you know there\u2019s a war going on nearby\u2026 I don\u2019t think we should go there,\u201d he said in Azerbaijan, a neighboring country to Iran.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut that\u2019s out of my hands.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kym Illman hears the Middle East races will happen.<\/p>\n<p>Verstappen also dismissed the argument that existing race contracts should force F1 to proceed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn that case, I don\u2019t think it matters whether you have a contract or not,\u201d said the Red Bull driver.<\/p>\n<p>Imola remains on standby for the December 6 finale if the Middle East rounds are dropped.<\/p>\n<p>Related Article:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.autoracing1.com\/pl\/504424\/formula-1-news-imola-finale-now-an-open-secret\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Formula 1 News: Imola finale now an open secret<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, I think it will be chaos with our rain tires,\u201d Verstappen joked about a race in Italy just weeks before Christmas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut yeah, you know, actually I\u2019m fine with that. It is a fun circuit, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The uncertainty has created an even stranger situation in Formula 2.<\/p>\n<p>Three races were held in Baku this weekend partly to provide insurance if the Qatar and Abu Dhabi rounds disappear, meaning Azerbaijan could retrospectively turn out to have been the championship finale.<\/p>\n<p>Rafael Camara left Baku leading Nikola Tsolov by 7 points after winning the second Feature Race.<\/p>\n<p>But the Ferrari junior told <a href=\"https:\/\/sport.sky.it\/formula-1\/2026\/09\/26\/f2-gp-baku-camara-intervista-video\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Sky Italia<\/a> that he still does not know whether he has effectively become champion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it would certainly be strange if the season ended at home, given that it\u2019s never happened before,\u201d said the Brazilian, who is strongly linked with a move to Haas for 2027.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut in any case, I think the year has been positive overall.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>F1 is expected to make its final decision by mid-October.<\/p>\n<p>Verstappen, meanwhile, is already looking forward to next weekend\u2019s relocated Bahrain GP at Sepang.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI always think it\u2019s a great circuit,\u201d said the quadruple world champion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt will be tough on the tires. Of course, it\u2019s always very hot there. I always really enjoyed driving there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe tire degradation will be high. We\u2019ll see in Malaysia.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-502373\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/max-verstappen10.jpg\" alt=\"Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing looks on during Sprint Qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Netherlands at Circuit Zandvoort on August 21, 2026 in Zandvoort, Netherlands. (Photo by Jordan McKean\/Getty Images) \/\/ Getty Images \/ Red Bull Content Pool \/\/\" width=\"1500\" height=\"1000\"\/>Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing l (Photo by Jordan McKean\/Getty Images) \/\/ Getty Images \/ Red Bull Content Pool \/\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(GMM) Max Verstappen says Formula 1 should not travel to Qatar and Abu Dhabi if the regional security&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":911508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":["post-911507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=911507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/911508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=911507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=911507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=911507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}