Cancel or postpone the Qatar GP? MotoGP is racing against time

Packed schedule and the Qatar question mark: in MotoGP all possibilities are being considered, but time is running out...

Last March came the announcement of the postponement of the Qatar Grand Prix from April to the weekend of November 8, due to the crisis in the Middle East. Months have passed since then, time is getting tighter and holding the MotoGP event is looking increasingly difficult. The new date was set as a way to keep the event on the World Championship calendar, but there’s still no guarantee the race will take place...

Other championships have already struck Qatar from their 2026 calendars, moving elsewhere, while MotoGP is still waiting. But for how long? We certainly can’t wait until November to figure out what to do—everything must be decided well in advance for obvious logistical and organizational reasons. The choice could align with Formula 1: President and CEO Stefano Domenicali spoke of a “deadline” in mid-September, a timeline that also seems suitable for the Motorcycle World Championship. All the more so because it will be the most chaotic period of the year, with all the Asian/Oceanian trips crammed into a few weeks: Japanese GP October 4, Indonesian GP October 11, Australian GP October 25, Malaysian GP November 1, followed by the Qatar GP on the weekend of November 8, then on to Portugal and Spain (Valencia) for the season finale.

Neither scenario would be a first for the MotoGP World Championship. Any championship inevitably depends on both international contexts and the weather, which throughout history have led to sudden cancellations, or relocations in the case of critical areas like this one. A cancellation might not displease teams or riders too much given an already very intense 22-round MotoGP calendar... Or it could be moved elsewhere. Perhaps, recalling the pandemic years, would it be feasible to revive the format of two seasonal GPs at the same circuit? Or even pick a track not currently on the calendar—who knows... The months are flying by and it’s already August, and there aren’t many options to choose from: for Liberty Media and MotoGP Sport Group Entertainment, it’s a race against time.

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