Verstappen not alone: senior F1 figures privately fear 'worst-case scenario' in Qatar

The report comes days after F1 sent a letter during the Mexico City Grand Prix weekend asking teams and drivers not to be too critical in public, as GPblog reported in F1 reportedly teams to stay quiet on Qatar as Verstappen and Sainz stand alone. According to the BBC, the paddock may have gone quiet since then, but that does not mean it agrees.

The BBC's Andrew Benson wrote that the same fears seen in MotoGP also exist in F1 "on a widespread basis". He added: "Privately, many people within the sport have significant misgivings about going to the Middle East, but those opinions are by and large not being voiced publicly." He also said that many senior figures privately consider the 'worst-case scenario', a phrase one of them used to him recently.

Benson's worst case does not start with an attack on the circuit itself. It starts with a sudden escalation after the paddock has already arrived in the region, leaving the sport with no easy way out.

The Qatar Grand Prix at Lusail is scheduled for 27 to 29 November, with Abu Dhabi following on 4 to 6 December with the paddock and team equipment travelling to Qatar straight after the Las Vegas Grand Prix, and any airspace closure could force F1 to rethink at once.

Benson did not describe F1 as ignoring the problem. He wrote that the sport "is not deaf to these concerns" but is "caught between a rock and a hard place". He said the host governments insist there are no significant risks and that civilian infrastructure has not been attacked for nearly six months. The UK government is also not advising people against travelling to either country.

F1 says it has comprehensive evacuation plans in place at every grand prix. It says it has walked all 11 teams through what would happen if they had to leave Qatar or Abu Dhabi at short notice.

Verstappen is still the biggest name to have spoken on the record. In Mexico, he was whether he still stood by his earlier comments, he said: "It also depends a bit on what they can guarantee in terms of safety and what happens over the coming weeks."

Benson's report suggests that cautious line is shared far more widely than the public record shows. For now, both races are still set to go ahead, although F1 is still monitoring the situation in the region.

Imola is being prepared as a back-up in case the Middle East double-header cannot take place.