F1 Supremo Bernie Ecclestone has revealed that Qatar’s ambition of hosting a Formula One Grand Prix in 2016 could be approved with the condition of an agreement with their neighbouring country, Bahrain.
Speculations has it that Qatar has been evaluating a bid to become the third Middle Eastern country to host an F1 event, with the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Ben Hamad Al Thami pushing to host a GP.
Nonetheless, despite the image proposals of the new street circuit in Lusail, Qatar, Ecclestone announced that there would be a problem.
“When I did the deal to have a race in Bahrain, I shook hands with them – promising not to have another race in the area unless they agreed to it.” Ecclestone told the Daily Mail.
“Then Abu Dhabi came along and said they wanted a race. I said I couldn’t help them unless Bahrain agree to let them join the calendar. If they agreed, fine. They did agree.
“Now Bahrain needs to agree to a race in Qatar. If that can be sorted, fine. If not, we can’t do anything about it.”
However, Bahrain’s F1 CEO Sheikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa Al Khalifa believes that the Middle East region should not host another grand prix yet as they are not ready and hence, he would be against Qatar getting a race.
“I think F1’s culture is growing [in the Middle East], and we can see it slowly coming about,” he explained to Autosport.
“But my personal opinion of having another race – wherever it is – I don’t think we are ready for that.”
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