Hamilton says Azerbaijan GP seems overlooked in debate over Qatar and Abu Dhabi

Lewis Hamilton says F1's recent Azerbaijan Grand Prix seems to have been overlooked in the debate over whether the Qatar and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix can go ahead. The two finales remain uncertain amid the Iran war, with F1 facing a mid-October deadline to decide whether they will run as scheduled.

Hamilton made the comparison after being asked about Imola as a possible stand-in for the season finale. He called the circuit beautiful but said it would not make an interesting final race, describing it as very bumpy with straight mode open and predicting no overtaking.

Azerbaijan shares a direct land border with Iran. Baku is about 350 miles from Tehran as the crow flies; Doha and Abu Dhabi are roughly 700 and 800 miles from the Iranian capital, respectively. Hamilton said he did not know everything going on in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, but the situation there seemed okay to him. “No one seems to mention that we were just in Azerbaijan,” he said. He hoped for peace so the final two races could go ahead and said Abu Dhabi was a venue he particularly liked.

By 3 October, the situation in the Middle East had stabilized somewhat, but the finales remained uncertain. In comments to Sky Italia, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said the plan was still for the final two weekends to be held in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, based on information and guarantees the sport had received. He stressed that those guarantees were essential. Imola was meanwhile being prepared as a possible replacement.

If they go ahead, Qatar is scheduled for the final weekend of November and Abu Dhabi for the first weekend of December.