Will F1 have to cancel the Bahrain Grand Prix after Iranian missile attacks?

Formula 1 is monitoring what may be its most acute geopolitical crisis since the series raced past a missile attack in Jeddah in 2022.

Six weeks before Bahrain is due to host a grand prix, buildings and a US Naval base in the Kingdom were hit by Iranian missiles, following the launch of the US-Israeli military operation codenamed Operation Epic Fury on February 28.

Retaliatory Iranian strikes across the Gulf region immediately threw an early part of the 2026 F1 calendar into considerable doubt.

A Pirelli tyre test that had been scheduled at Bahrain’s Sakhir circuit in the days before Melbourne was cancelled after missile activity was reported in the country.

Pirelli confirmed all personnel in Manama were safe and being assisted in returning to Europe, but the scrapping of the test was the first tangible sign that several motor sport series had been affected, with all facing decisions on whether to continue with planned races in the coming weeks.

MotoGP is scheduled to race in Qatar, which was also hit by Iranian strikes, on the same weekend as F1’s Bahrain Grand Prix at the Sakhir circuit, which is meant to host the Prologue and first round of the World Endurance Championship from March 22.

The logistical disruption has already reached further than that.

Australian Grand Prix travel affected

Formula 1’s travelling operation, comprising roughly 2,000 team members and organisational staff, was thrown into disarray following the closure of major aviation hubs in the Gulf.

Many F1 workers were forced to hastily revise travel arrangements as they attempted to reach Albert Park for the championship’s opening race.

With Doha and Dubai airports shut following Iranian bombing of facilities across Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and the UAE, F1 travellers were redirected onto alternative services through Hong Kong and Singapore, while others opted for Qantas flights into Perth and an internal connection of approximately three and a half hours to Melbourne.

F1 issued a statement pointing out that its next three races are in Australia, China and Japan and that those Grands Prix are not for a number of weeks.

“As always we closely monitor any situation like this and work closely with relevant authorities in the region,” a spokesperson said.

The races under threat

The Bahrain Grand Prix is scheduled for April 10-12 , with the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix following a week later on April 17-19 at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

That gives F1 six weeks from the current date, a window that might ordinarily seem comfortable, but which looks precarious given the speed with which the regional situation deteriorated.

Bahrain confirmed that a missile attack targeted the headquarters of the US Navy’s 5th Fleet in Manama. This is the same city – and in some respects the same neighbourhood – where F1 races every April.

The Bahrain International Circuit sits in Sakhir, roughly 30 kilometres south of Manama, but the circuit’s proximity to US military infrastructure makes it a potentially sensitive site in any prolonged conflict scenario.

Saudi Arabia’s exposure is no less significant.

The Saudi foreign ministry confirmed that Iran targeted Riyadh and the Eastern Province, and stated it had intercepted all Iranian attacks aimed at its territory, warning it would “take all necessary measures” to defend itself.

During the 2022 Saudi Arabian GP weekend, a Houthi strike hit an Aramco oil facility, an incident that brought F1 to the brink of abandonment.

Formula 1 has previously cancelled a Bahrain Grand Prix, in 2011 as a result of pro-democracy protests, and did so three weeks in advance of the event — a timescale that would give F1 three weeks to make a decision, but WEC organisers needing to make an imminent call.

The airspace problem

Even if hostilities were to cease imminently, the practical consequences for F1 logistics would linger.

As of Monday, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the UAE were among the nations that had announced at least partial closures of their skies, forcing widespread flight suspensions, cancellations and diversions and leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded globally.

According to Flightradar24, Iran’s total airspace closure had been extended to at least 3 March, with Saudi Arabia operating a partial closure affecting areas bordering Iraq and the Persian Gulf.

On Sunday, some carriers were already beginning to reposition aircraft back to their Gulf hubs – Etihad was returning planes to Abu Dhabi within 24 hours of the initial disruptions – suggesting the UAE end of the airspace picture may stabilise relatively quickly.

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain remained more uncertain.

For F1, which moves a small city’s worth of equipment from race to race, the freight dimension is critical.

Teams routinely ship equipment through Dubai, whose airport handles some of the heaviest freight volumes in the world.

Dubai International confirmed the suspension of all flight operations until further notice following the conflict, with Emirates temporarily halting all operations.

If those closures persist or recur, the logistics of getting cars and equipment into Sakhir for a 10 April race start could become very complex.

F1’s dilemma: money, safety and precedent

The commercial stakes, as usual in situations like this, are enormous.

The Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix are integral parts of a 24-race calendar that F1 has invested heavily in building.

Neither Bahrain nor Saudi Arabia would accept cancellation lightly, and F1’s contractual obligations to both are substantial.

But the championship has been here before, and the lesson of Jeddah 2022, where racing continued despite drivers being able to see the smoke from a Houthi missile strike on a nearby oil facility, is that F1’s threshold for pulling the plug is higher than some in the paddock would like.

That race was held; the 2022 Russian Grand Prix, by contrast, was cancelled following the invasion of Ukraine.

The distinction F1 drew on that occasion – between a conflict in which a host nation was the aggressor, versus one in which a host nation was merely caught in regional crossfire – may be tested again here.

The Australian Grand Prix Corporation said that Melbourne will proceed as scheduled.