Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Formula One races in Bahrain and China will swap places earlier in the season than initially planned following approval of the 2018 F1 calendar.
Motor sport’s governing body FIA confirmed the proposed switch, with Bahrain taking place at the Sakhir circuit on April 8 and the Chinese GP in Shanghai a week later.
As usual, the F1 season begins with the Australian GP in Melbourne on March 25.
All the other races in the 21-race calendar were confirmed from the original plan set out in June, with the exception of the United States GP in Austin on October 21 being subject to confirmation.
Abu Dhabi will once again host the concluding race of the season on November 25 at Yas Marina.
Questions were raised about the penultimate race of the season on November 11, the Brazilian GP being held next year in Sao Paulo, after serious security scares at this year’s event.
Members of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes team were robbed at gun point in their minivan while leaving the track. Valuables were stolen but there were no injuries reported.
Street crime is endemic in Brazil, which has been battered in the last several years by its worst recession in memory. Thieves at the F1 race often target cars stuck in traffic jams at the exit of the circuit located about 30km south of Sao Paulo city centre.
At November’s race, FIA spokesman Matteo Bonciani said the car in which he was leaving the track was assaulted by gun-wielding assailants who attempted to smash in the bullet-proof windows with the vehicle stuck in traffic.
In response to these latest incidents, new security measures were proposed last week. The FIA directly urged that the race promoter uses an ‘independent security expert to evaluate and advise on security plans’, while implementing a police reporting hub at the circuit and improving ‘overall communication between the promoter security, police and F1 stakeholders’.
The French GP, meanwhile, returns after a 10-year absence and will be hosted at the iconic Paul Ricard circuit, also known as Le Castellet, in southern France on June 24.
Paul Ricard last hosted the French GP in 1990. The race was then organised at Magny-Cours from 1991-2008 but was dropped from the calendar in 2008 because of financial issues.
The German GP, which has struggled with attendances and track fees, was scrapped this year but will return at Hockenheim on July 22.
The Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) is already preparing to host the island’s biggest event of the year, the 2018 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix with on-and-off-track plans well developed.
In this year’s exciting race world champion Lewis Hamilton ended up apologising to his Mercedes team after he admitted he was at fault for a pit-lane blunder that cost him a shot at victory in Bahrain.
Hamilton’s chief rival, Sebastian Vettel claimed his second win from the opening three rounds. His margin of victory ahead of Hamilton under the floodlights of the Sakhir Circuit was 6.6 seconds. He should have been much closer to the Ferrari driver but for a rare moment of gamesmanship.
Knowing he would have to queue behind his Mercedes team-mate, Valtteri Bottas, at the first round of stops, Hamilton crawled into the pit lane, slowing down to just 35mph, in a ploy to prevent Daniel Ricciardo from getting past. The stewards took a dim view of Hamilton’s actions – declaring he drove ‘unnecessarily slowly and erratically’ - and slapped him with a five-second timed penalty and latterly two points on his licence.
The punishment left Hamilton with too much work to do and while his late salvo rescued second place, Vettel cruised to victory for one of the highlights of a bitterly disappointing season.
The second round of the 2018 season will be the fifth night race held under the circuit’s bright floodlights. The slogan and theme for the next event will be announced in the New Year but insiders at the BIC are confident they will ‘once again deliver one of the best packages combining motorsport and entertainment’ in the Formula 1 World Championship series.
There is much speculation and rumours over who will be the off-track international headline act but the Whisperer, who has been sworn to secrecy, says the 2018 star will ‘blow away’ music fans and be ‘almost as big a draw’ on stage as Hamilton is on the track!
