Carlos Sainz spent much of the Thursday FIA press conference in Austin picking his words carefully. By the end of the same day, Williams had put out a statement in his name taking most of them back.

The Spaniard, who sits on the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA) board, said he was giving a personal view, not a GPDA one.

“It’s very difficult to be convinced right now, because there are still things happening, plenty of things happening in the Middle East,” he told reporters at the Circuit of The Americas.

He added that the world could change a lot in the next month and a half and that the sport needed to stay diligent and reactive to whatever happened in the meantime.

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By evening, Williams had put out a short statement in Sainz’s name.

“Following some reporting of my comments in the press conference earlier today about ending the season in the Middle East, I want to be clear that I know the FIA and Formula 1 will put safety first and completely trust them to make the right decision. We look forward to racing in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.”

‘Someone will probably have had a word with him’

Max Verstappen made the subtext explicit at the following race in Mexico City. Asked about Sainz’s remarks, the Red Bull driver laughed before answering.

“Someone will probably have had a word with him afterwards! Of course, you’re not really allowed to say those things,” Verstappen told the Mexico City media session.

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Verstappen’s own line was close to Sainz’s. He said he did not expect a MotoGP-style walkout, but that it depended on what the organisers could guarantee in terms of safety and what happened in the coming weeks, according to Autosport. Right now he was happy to go, he said. Next week was another question.

An F1 letter asked teams to hold the line

Formula 1 sent its 10 teams a letter during the Mexico City weekend urging them to trust the championship and the FIA and to maintain a united public position while the security picture is monitored. The championship told teams that travel advice and insurance arrangements had not changed since May and that no attacks on civilian infrastructure had been reported. Qatar Airways is a global F1 partner through the 2027 season and the title sponsor of the race, which runs as the Formula 1 Qatar Airways Qatar Grand Prix 2026.

The precedent on the other side is recent. F1 and the FIA called off the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian rounds in April after Iran attacked both countries during its exchange with the United States and Israel. In MotoGP, Yamaha and its satellite Pramac team pulled out of the 6 to 8 November Qatar round over the same safety concerns, with 19 of 22 riders siding against racing.

Qatar remains on the F1 calendar for 27 to 29 November at Lusail, with the Abu Dhabi finale on 6 December. Imola is on standby as a reserve venue if the picture changes before the 10 November deadline cited in the F1 letter.

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