Following the US and Israeli bombing of Iran at the weekend, the former has responded with a series of retaliatory strikes across the Middle East, primarily targeting US military bases across the region.

The result has been the closure of the Gulf's three major travel hubs, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Dubai, which has led to speculation over whether the Australian Grand Prix will be able to take place, with some F1 personnel, including Nyck De Vries who was testing for McLaren, still stuck in Bahrain.

Speaking to the Fox Sports News, Auld said: "No doubts the events of the weekend have thrown out the travel plans for the teams and F1 themselves.

"But it's certainly been a busy 48 hours, particularly for F1. I'm sure they are thinking ahead to what the implications might be. As it stands at the moment, there are no issues for us, but I'd imagine beyond us, they'll be thinking about what they might do to their calendar if they need to.

Auld also told Today Show Australia more on the impact of the Middle East travel freeze, but again reiterated his confidence that the season-opener will go ahead.

"I mean a lot of this is done by Formula 1. So you’re talking about teams, drivers, Formula 1 personnel,” Auld said.

“I’m guessing there’d be close to 1000 people that would have already booked their flights and would be landing somewhere between sort of today, tomorrow, Wednesday. So they had to all be changed.

A popular F1 DJ, Rick Jansen, otherwise known as DJ Admin has also announced that he will be skipping the first three races of the 2026 season due to the current unrest.