Qatar appears to be on the fast track to hosting a round of the FIA Formula One championship in two years’ time, according to president of the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation Nasser bin Khalifa Al Attiyah.
Al Attiyah, who is also a vicepresident of the FIA, motorsport’s world governing body, and its motorcycling counterpart the FIM, yesterday revealed he is close to signing a contract to host a F1 Grand Prix.
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The QMMF boss was quoted as saying that the race could be held as early as next year or latest by 2017. “We are about to sign contracts to organise a Formula One race,” he said.
“We have completed all thesteps and there are only a few details before the official signature.”
On January 12 this year, Sport360° had exclusively reported that the QMMF has made a strong pitch to the FIA for the Gulf state to be included on the F1 calendar latest by 2017.
Al Attiyah revealed he has obtained approval from the Qatari leadership to go ahead with the plans. A Grand Prix in Qatar would
bring F1’s tally of races in the Middle East to three as it would join the Bahrain and Abu Dhabi races.
However, F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has previously said that Bahrain is blocking Qatar’s F1 bid. Apparently, Bahrain has to approve other races in the region following an agreement with Ecclestone, though it did not object to Abu Dhabi hosting a second race.
Ecclestone may have found a way around this issue by favouring a race on a street circuit in Doha as it would offer something totally different to what both Bahrain and Abu Dhabi host.
Al Attiyah says both options are on the table. The QMMF boss’ motorsport ambitions for Qatar go beyond F1 though. Al Attiyah has got a round of the FIA World Endurance Championship included on the calendar for Qatar. In addition, Al Attiyah has also made a pitch for a round of the World Karting Championship for which Qatar has already started building an international-class circuit at Losail, expected to be completed next year.
