Formula 1 considers return of Bahrain Grand Prix this year

• April race cancelled due to conflict
• Bahrain pays $52m per year to host
• Qatar and Abu Dhabi due end of year

The reinstatement of the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix to this season’s calendar is being considered by the motor racing body.

Formula 1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali said a decision must be taken before the sport’s August summer break.

Originally scheduled to take place in April, the Bahrain event was one of two, alongside the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix, cancelled because of the Iran conflict.

According to reports, Bahrain is the leading option to be restored and could slot into the one-week gap between the Azerbaijan and Singapore Grands Prix in September.

“I think that the possibility of recovering one of the races that we have not done … we need to do it before the summer break,” Domenicali told Sky.

Bahrain, which promotes itself as the heart of motorsport in the Middle East, was the first country in the region to stage a Formula 1 race, hosting its inaugural event in 2004.

The country pays about $52 million per year to Formula 1 for the right to host the event, according to Racing News 365. The contract runs until 2036, making it one of the longest deals on the F1 calendar.

The Hermann Tilke-designed circuit is in the Sakhir desert, about 30km southwest of the capital Manama, and holds around 70,000 spectators.

In February, at the official launch of this year’s event at the Bahrain International Circuit, chief executive Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa said that the Turn 1 Grandstand was sold out and the main grandstand was 98 percent sold. Corporate lounges and the Champions Club were also sold out.

Sheikh Salman previously said that the annual event, which was cancelled once before during the Arab Spring of 2011, generates an estimated $100 million for the kingdom.

Further reading:

• Return of Formula 1 expected to rev up Turkish economy
• Bahrain’s Gulf Hotels profit surges on Formula 1
• Saudi Arabia explores options to own F1 team

Formula 1 has drawn up contingency plans should the conflict in the Middle East escalate again and threaten the season-ending races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi in November and December respectively.

Portugal’s Algarve International Circuit, which is due to return permanently to the race calendar in 2027, will act as a replacement venue. Formula 1 has set a mid-September deadline to decide if such action is required.

Following the recent ceasefire agreement and the signing of a memorandum of understanding aimed at resolving the war within 60 days, Domenicali said he remains optimistic that the championship could finish the season as originally planned.

“I really hope that we can have all the conditions – safety first, of course, for all our people – that we can go there,” he said.