Mercedes staff free to skip Qatar as F1 teams quietly let crews decide on Gulf finale

When F1 stood Imola down as a backup this week, its spokesperson said the "teams are all supportive of concluding the season as planned." That covers the teams as organisations. The people who actually fly to Lusail and Yas Marina are another question, and several team bosses have now answered it in a way that leaves the decision with each individual.

Toto Wolff set out the Mercedes position at the team principals' press conference at Interlagos. Wolff said someone who chose not to travel would not face consequences in their working relationship with Mercedes. He also said nobody inside the team had raised the issue with him so far.

None of this meant Wolff doubted the plan. He said he was following the guidance of Stefano Domenicali and Mohammed Ben Sulayem, adding: "If things were to get more dangerous then he's going to be the first one, together with Mohammed, to protect the people that were meant to travel." He made the same comments while criticising MotoGP riders who had spoken out against racing in Qatar.

Ferrari's Fred Vasseur, sitting beside Wolff, took the same line. He noted that the team was "in the middle of nine races in 11 weeks" and said: "Everybody is focused on the triple-header, and perhaps the topic will come to the table a bit later, but it's not the case today. In any case, we will respect the decision of the team member. If someone feels something and doesn't want to come, we will respect the decision."

At Aston Martin, the pressure is coming from home. Chief trackside officer Mike Krack said in Brazil: "Team members receive questions from their families. Therefore, the more we can reassure them, the better." He added that "it's not always possible to do so. We can't always offer absolute reassurance, because, often, even we don't know what's going to happen." He also described staff checking whether their own hotel was on the Iranian list of potential targets, though Krack said Aston Martin still trusts F1 to make the right call.

Red Bull and Racing Bulls have not publicly said whether their staff get the same opt-out. Before the Mexico City Grand Prix, Laurent Mekies said he trusts the FIA and F1 to make the call. He has not addressed individual staff choices, and that matters more for a team whose title-winning crew is already breaking up.

Not everyone in the paddock plans to travel. German outlet BILD reports that employees of a sports equipment manufacturer supplying several F1 teams will not travel to the final two races. Several personnel have reportedly raised concerns about the regional security situation with their management. BILD also reported that several broadcasters are planning to keep their crews at home. For now, F1 says that "if the situation develops negatively in the coming weeks before the events in the Middle East, we will not hesitate to do the right thing."