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Full Noise by SN
Running It Straight is back!Middle East conflict puts brakes on sport
Glenn Moore, AAP • March 4th, 2026 8:30 am
F1 | Photo: AAP
A pair of charter planes are scheduled to land in Melbourne on Wednesday morning carrying Formula One personnel as international sport scrambles to ameliorate the impact of the latest eruption in the Middle East.
A British Airways plane, which stopped at Singapore, and an Air X flight via Tanzania, carried staff from 10 of the grid's 11 teams plus F1 officials to Australia, which hosts the opening race of the season.
Around a quarter of the approximately 2,000 people who work at every F1 race had been due to travel to the Albert Park race via Gulf travel hubs Doha and Dubai.
Despite the disruption F1 bosses are confident the race will go ahead with the first practice session due Friday morning.
The races in Shanghai (March 15) and Japan (March 29) should be fine too but the following grand prix, in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia on April 12 and April 19 respectively, are in jeopardy with F1 "closely monitoring" the situation.
It is understood that if the races are cancelled they may not be replaced, leaving F1 with a 22-round season and a five-week void before May's Miami race.
One motor sport event which is off is the FIA's season-opener for its main sportscar competition, the World Endurance Championship, which had been set for March 28 in Qatar.
That has been postponed until "later in the year."
In the United Arab Emirates - another country targeted by Iran - players were forced to evacuate the court at an ATP Challenger event after a drone attack on a nearby oil terminal.
Smoke rises above the Fujairah oil facility, UAE, after debris hit from an Iranian drone attack | Photo: AP
Footage online showed Japan's Hayato Matsuoka and Belarusian Daniil Ostapenkov leave the court midway through their Fujairah Challenger encounter before the chair umpire made an announcement and followed suit.
Play was subsequently suspended for the day.
Tour-level events have left the region but some players who participated in Dubai last week, headed by Russians Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, are stuck there.
The next event in the calendar is at Indian Wells, California, which starts main draw matches on Wednesday.
There are also travel difficulties for athletes heading to the Winter Paralympics, which start on Friday in Italy. The International Paralympic Committee says most teams are already in Europe for training and it's helping out others with travel.
Iran is due to have one skier at the Paralympics.
The clock is ticking for a decision on whether to cancel or move soccer's Finalissima on March 27 in Qatar between the champions of Europe and South America, Spain and Lionel Messi's Argentina.
Qatar suspended all soccer games until further notice on Sunday while this and next week's Asian Champions League Elite west region knock-out ties were also postponed.
Cristiano Ronaldo is still in Saudi Arabia, with Al Nassr posting a photo of him at training following reports his private jet had left the country.
However, the club also said he had a hamstring injury and was undergoing rehabilitation so he appears unlikely to play in Saturday's Saudi Pro League fixture at home to Neom.
This is set to go ahead as things stand despite the US Embassy in Riyadh being hit by Iranian drones on Tuesday.
Squad and staff from the England Lions, England's second-strong cricket team, have returned safely to the UK after their series against Pakistani equivalents in Abu Dhabi was scrapped.
