Formula One is seriously considering shifting its season finale as the U.S.–Iran war continues in the Middle East.
F1 president Stefano Domenicali told reporters on Wednesday that the finale of the 2026 season will be hosted in Europe if the "situation will not be cleared the way that we believe it should be." The last two races on the calendar are in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
"For us today, the races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi are confirmed," Domenicali said. "By the way, they are already sold out."
He added that the deadline to make a decision is in the "middle of September."
F1 was slated to have a record-tying 24 races to start the season, but that quickly changed after races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia were canceled in March and April, respectively, due to the war.

#formula #Iran

The 2026 Formula 1 calendar has been in a state of flux since the Middle East conflict forced the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix earlier this year. Now, the scramble to fill the void is reaching a climax, and a fan-favorite circuit is on the verge of an unexpected return.
According to a recent update from F1 Speed Indonesia, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has officially addressed the rumors surrounding the Sepang International Circuit. Responding to press inquiries regarding F1's request to have Malaysia replace the canceled Bahrain GP, Ibrahim confirmed that a definitive answer is imminent.
"Regarding F1, we will make an announcement on Sunday," the Prime Minister stated, setting a July 26 deadline for the decision.
This aligns with recent confirmations from Malaysia's Youth and Sports Ministry, which has been actively ***** sing the feasibility, costs, and logistics of hosting a Grand Prix at short notice.
The aggressive push for Malaysia comes after F1's initial contingency plans fell apart. Organizers had originally hoped to reschedule the Bahrain GP for early October—slotting it right between the Azerbaijan and Singapore races. However, with geopolitical tensions flaring up once again, the FIA and F1 management have been forced to abandon the Middle East makeup dates entirely.

#Bahrain #prix #malaysia #circuit

The dollar index (DXY00) is down by -0.10% today. The dollar is under modest pressure today amid a recovery in the yen, which rose from a 39-year low on the prospect of faster interest rate hikes from the BOJ. Losses in the dollar are limited due to today's +3% rally in WTI crude oil to a 6-week high, which raises inflation expectations that could prompt the Fed to tighten monetary policy, a supportive factor for the dollar. Also, higher T-note yields today have strengthened the dollar's interest rate differentials and are supportive of the dollar.
The US and Iran played down the prospect of peace talks as disruptions to global oil supplies continue to mount. The US conducted an 11th straight day of attacks on Iran in an effort to degrade the country's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran retaliated by striking US bases in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan. President Trump said on Tuesday that the US has "no interest" in meeting with Iran until they are ready for serious peace negotiations.
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#prices #today #interest

Malaysia could return to the Formula One calendar at short notice this year if the Iran conflict causes more problems, specialist website the-race.com reported on Thursday.
In mid-March, Formula One postponed April races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia due to the war, reducing the calendar initially from 24 to 22 grands prix.
If the final two races of the year on November 29 in Qatar and on December 6 in Abu Dhabi cannot take place either due to trouble in the Middle East, Formula One bosses are examining further options, the report said.
Before the recent escalation in the Iran conflict, officials had hoped that a Bahrain Grand Prix could be rescheduled on the first weekend in October between races in Azerbaijan and Singapore.
That now looks unlikely with the US and Iran again trading blows, so candidates for a race on October 4 now include Malaysia, the report said, as well as Turkey.

#october #calendar #conflict

Malaysia could return to the Formula 1 calendar for the first time since 2017 as the sport eyes up contingency plans for the second half of the 2026 season.
After races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia were cancelled in April due to the conflict in the Middle East, F1 is keen to add to its current 22-race calendar and was hopeful of racing in Bahrain in October, in between already scheduled races in Azerbaijan (26 September) and Singapore (11 October).
However, given the recent escalation in the region after the ending of the US-Iran ceasefire, F1 bosses are seeking alternatives and the Sepang International Circuit, just outside Kuala Lumpur, is one option.
Malaysia withdrew from the sport in 2017 when they couldn’t match the host fees required, yet the racetrack is still used regularly for other series such as MotoGP.
In this instance, its proximity to Singapore means a Europe-Asia triple-header, over the last weekend in September and the first two weekends in October, is feasible.

#malaysia #Singapore #calendar #formula

The dollar index (DXY00) is up by +0.17% today. The dollar is moving higher today as escalation of hostilities between the US and Iran is boosting crude oil prices, which raises inflation expectations that could prompt the Fed to tighten monetary policy, a supportive factor for the dollar. The dollar also received some safe-haven support today on signs of widening of the conflict in the Middle East after Houthi rebels said they will impose a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia in retaliation for what they say is the kingdom's siege on the Yemeni capital. Strength in stocks today has reduced liquidity demand for the dollar, limiting gains in the currency.
Today's US economic news was slightly negative for the dollar after the Jun leading indicators fell -0.2% m/m, weaker than expectations of -0.1% m/m.
Dollar Supported by Higher T-Note Yields and Crude Prices
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The US conducted a ninth straight day of airstrikes on Iran, bombing military targets and communications networks, and Iran retaliated by launching drones and missiles at US bases in Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain, and Iraq. The New York Times reported that the US is sending more warplanes to the Middle East, including F-35 and F-16 fighter jets. However, crude prices fell from their highs after Iran said it wouldn't abandon diplomacy and that Qatar and Pakistan had reached out to mediate an end to the conflict and proposed a 10-day cessation of strikes between the US and Iran.

#crude

The national average price of gasoline in the United States topped $4 per gallon once again on Monday following the crude oil price rally of the past week amid the renewed hostilities in the Middle East and the fresh de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
As of July 20, the national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in the United States was $4.0030, according to AAA data.
Prices are now up from $3.8720 per gallon on Monday last week, following a week of re-escalation in the Middle East with Iranian attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, nine consecutive nights of U.S. strikes against Iran, and Iranian missiles targeting U.S. bases and military ****** ets in America's regional allies, including Kuwait, Jordan, and Bahrain.
At this time last year, the average price of gasoline in the United States was $3.1410.
But the war in Iran has hiked fuel prices globally, including in the United States.

#states #Monday

By Scott DiSavino
NEW YORK, July 21 (Reuters) - Oil prices climbed about 2% on Tuesday to a five-week high, on worries that energy supply disruptions could worsen in the Middle East due to more attacks ‌between the U.S. and Iran and a threatened naval blockade of Saudi Arabia by Yemen's Houthis.
Brent futures ‌rose $2.12, or 2.4%, to $91.34 a barrel at 10:53 a.m. EDT (1453 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose $1.80, or 2.2%, to $85.03.
Brent was on track for its highest close since June 10, WTI for its highest since June 11. Brent was in technically overbought territory for a seventh day in a row.
Two oil tankers carrying Saudi crude to Asia reversed course in the Red Sea on Tuesday after threats from Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis. U.S. forces bombed targets in the south and west of Iran overnight, Tehran targeted U.S. sites in ‌Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan and at least ⁠one tanker was hit in the Strait of Hormuz.

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Tehran has spent decades preparing for — and welcoming — a U.S. ground invasion, a senior Iranian official has claimed, as fresh explosions rocked the region on the eighth day of renewed U.S.-Iran strikes.
Seyed Mohammad Marandi, an Iranian American academic identified as a regime "mouthpiece," also boasted that Tehran had just launched a "new missile" while decentralizing and burying its ***** nal deep underground to withstand sustained American air campaigns.
"The Americans are planning an invasion. I'm not saying it will necessarily happen. I'm not saying it will necessarily happen in the next few days. But they have plans for an invasion," Marandi, who served as an advisor to Iran's nuclear negotiation team during recent talks with the U.S. in Pakistan, said in an interview with political ***** yst Glenn Diesen.
I've Studied Military Strategy. Trump Now Faces Iran's Oldest Battlefield Trick
"Whether they carry them out or not, we'll see. But the Iranians, as you pointed out, the focus of Iranian strikes is on Bahrain and Kuwait, and that's because that's where most American ***** ets have been placed for a ground invasion," Diesen said.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States conducted a new round of airstrikes early Monday targeting Iran after announcing the death of another American service member, hitting around a northwestern city believed to be home to underground missile bases. Iran responded by launching an attack targeting Bahrain, the home of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, and Kuwait.
The latest attacks again showed how, step by step, the U.S. and Iran have inched closer to all-out war as last month's interim deal meant to permanently end the fighting has crumbled and shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz has largely stalled. Both sides have targeted civilian infrastructure relied on by millions of people.
Meanwhile, benchmark Brent crude rose Monday above $90 a barrel, further fueling a global energy crisis sparked by the conflict. An average gallon of regular gasoline in the U.S. also rose to $4, a key metric for Americans that puts more pressure on their wallets ahead of midterm elections this fall.
The U.S. military said the service member was killed in Iraq on Saturday during the "controlled detonation" of a downed Iranian drone.
"We hit them very hard again tonight," U.S. President Donald Trump said. "And we did that in honor of the" soldiers killed, he said.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. military launched airstrikes Sunday targeting Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard to retaliate for the killing of American troops in Jordan, further widening crossfire between the nations as an interim deal seeking an end to their war has collapsed.
The strikes are part of a weeklong campaign that began with a struggle over control of the Strait of Hormuz and has seen Iran strike U.S.-allied countries across the Middle East.
The U.S. has targeted bridges, electrical facilities and other targets in Iran, and Tehran has retaliated by hitting power and desalination plants in Kuwait, threatening daily life in that small, oil-rich desert nation. Iran also has stepped up its threats to further expand the strikes, drawing a warning overnight from the United Arab Emirates.
Kuwait and Bahrain again activated air defenses Sunday morning as they warned of incoming Iranian drones and missiles.
The U.S. military's Central Command in its statement also said it hit "Iranian military coastal surveillance and air defense facilities, maritime capabilities and missile and drone storage sites." It also said for the first time it specifically targeting the Guard, a key power base in Iran's theocracy that controls its ballistic missile **** nal.

The U.S. military hit bridges and energy sites in Iran in its latest round of strikes against the Middle Eastern country early Friday morning.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) responded with attacks on U.S. bases in the Gulf region, including in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.
The IRGC also said it attacked a U.S. special operations command center at the al-Tanf garrison military base in Syria — an ***** ertion that U.S. Central Command disputed on Friday morning.
"CLAIM: Iranian forces claim they attacked al-Tanf Garrison in Syria and captured or killed American troops in the process. FALSE," the military command wrote on social media. "FACT: No U.S. troops in the region have recently been killed or captured."
In an interview earlier this week, President Trump telegraphed expanding the U.S. strikes to Iranian infrastructure, which critics have noted could constitute war crimes if the targets were not being used for military purposes.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States and Iran exchanged strikes aimed at infrastructure and military targets on Saturday as their battle over the Strait of Hormuz intensified.
The region has endured days of back-and-forth attacks in a conflict increasingly focused on control of the strait. The collapse of an interim ceasefire leaves no clear end in sight for the war that the U.S. and Israel began more than four months ago.
The U.S. Central Command said late Friday it had launched its seventh straight night of attacks aimed at degrading Iran's military. Early Saturday it said the strikes had hit "surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities."
Kuwait said Saturday it was intercepting Iranian missiles and drones, and air sirens sounded in Bahrain according to the government there.
Iranian officials say recent U.S. strikes have killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds, with new casualties reported Friday, when the U.S. military also acknowledged more injured service members.

China cut crude imports to 7.8 million bpd in May, accounting for 74% of the entire global trade decrease, while keeping its 1.4 billion barrel reserve intact.
The Hormuz closure removed 14% of global supply yet prices climbed just 30%, a fraction of the 130% spike during the 1973 OPEC embargo.
When China's August import data rebounds, the cushion keeping US gas near $3.85 vanishes, making that single data point oil's most critical warning signal.
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The Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint carrying roughly 20% of the world's oil, was declared closed again on July 11 by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Navy. Within 72 hours, US forces struck roughly 140 military targets, Iran launched missile and drone retaliation against the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain, and Washington reinstated a naval blockade of Iranian ports. Brent crude jumped more than 4% on July 13 to $79.26, its highest level since June 22, and by this morning was trading around $84 to $86, up roughly 5% on the week, according to CNBC and Al Jazeera. The two largest oil ETFs are up roughly 10% to 13% over the past week.

By ******* hree Mukherjee
July 13 (Reuters) - Oil prices surged more than 3% on Monday after renewed military strikes between the United States and Iran reignited concerns over energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent ‌crude futures were up $2.47, or 3.25%, to $78.48 at 1145 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was ‌up $2.35, or 3.29%, to $73.76 a barrel.
"The focus will remain on the number of inbound tankers as a lower number could impact production, so currently we see a risk premium but as well a disruption risk supporting prices," said UBS ******* yst Giovanni Staunovo.
Fresh U.S. and Iranian strikes over the weekend fueled fears of a renewed escalation. Tehran targeted U.S. facilities across the Gulf on Sunday and said it had again closed the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Monday they had attacked U.S. military ‌bases in Kuwait and Bahrain.

Oil prices were little changed on Friday, but both major benchmarks remained on track to post solid weekly gains as investors weighed renewed military tensions between the United States and Iran against expectations that the conflict will remain limited and avoid disrupting crude exports from the Persian Gulf.
At 14:18 ET (18:18 GMT), U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures edged down 0.1% to $72.01 per barrel, while Brent crude futures slipped 0.07% to $76.25 per barrel.
Although trading was subdued during the session, Brent was still heading for a weekly gain of around 5%, with WTI up roughly 4%. Prices surged earlier in the week after renewed attacks near the Strait of Hormuz revived concerns over supply disruptions before easing as traders concluded the conflict was unlikely to broaden significantly.
The United States carried out another round of airstrikes against military targets in Iran on Thursday, saying the operations were intended to further reduce Tehran's ability to threaten commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran responded with missile and drone attacks aimed at U.S.-aligned countries, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Jordan, marking one of the most extensive military exchanges since last month's temporary agreement.

President Donald Trump declared the US-Iran ceasefire over on Wednesday, reviving fears of a markets crash in July. Stock futures fell more than 1% while oil surged and gold climbed.
Wall Street's early reaction suggests caution rather than panic. The bigger question is whether renewed war risk triggers a deep July sell-off, or whether investors have already built the danger into prices.
The US struck more than 80 Iranian targets overnight after Tehran attacked three commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, CENTCOM confirmed.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard answered with claimed strikes on 85 US military facilities, activating air defenses in Bahrain and Kuwait.
The June truce died less than halfway through the 60-day window negotiators had set. Yet markets responded in orderly fashion. Dow futures fell 1.10%, S&P 500 futures lost 0.87%, and Nasdaq futures dropped 1.33% in early pre-market trading.

Stock futures are sharply lower and oil prices are surging as investors react to the escalating tension between Iran and the U.S.; the two countries traded strikes overnight and President Trump said the ceasefire could be over; chip stocks are poised to extend their losses into a second session; Apple reached a deal to buy at least $30 billion worth of chips from Broadcom; and the minutes from last month's Fed meeting on interest rates are scheduled to be released this afternoon. Here's what you need to know today.
Stock futures are sinking this morning as markets react to the escalating tension between the U.S. and Iran. (more on that below) S&P 500 futures were down 0.7% recently, while futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 1% and 1.1%, respectively. The major indexes fell yesterday as the Dow pulled back from a record high and chip stocks tumbled. WTI crude oil futures were up 5% at $74 per barrel, trading at a two-week high as investors monitored developments in the Middle East. Gold futures were down 2% at $4,075 an ounce, while bitcoin traded at $62,200, down from yesterday's high of $64,600. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which affects interest rates on all sorts of loans, rose to 4.57%, its highest level in more than a month.
The U.S. and Iran are again trading strikes after multiple ships were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz early yesterday. The U.S. responded by launching new strikes in Iran, and Iranian forces are retaliating by attacking other countries, including Bahrain, that host U.S. military bases. President Trump was asked about the status of the ceasefire that has kept attacks to a minimum for the last few months, and he said he thinks the agreement could be "over." Trump said U.S. officials will be allowed to continue negotiating with Iran, but said "I think they're wasting their time," per The **** ociated Press.
Chip stocks are poised to extend yesterday's losses into a second straight session. Several major hardware makers are down premarket, including Nvidia (NVDA), Intel (INTC), Marvell (MRVL), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Micron (MU) and Sandisk (SNDK). The AI trade stumbled yesterday after preliminary second-quarter results from South Korean tech giant Samsung beat estimates, but not by enough to wow investors, dragging the U.S. tech sector lower. Samsung shares fell by more than 6% for a second straight day in Korean Stock Exchange trading on Wednesday. Worries about an AI bubble have also been reignited for some investors recently after last month's rally that sent many AI stocks to new record highs. The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) was down 2% in recent premarket trading, while the Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) dropped more than 5%.

July 8 (Reuters) - Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they targeted U.S. military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait on Wednesday after the U.S. launched a wave of military strikes on Iran in response to attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
In the latest blow to the fragile ceasefire agreement, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it carried out a joint missile and drone operation against key ‌U.S. military sites in Bandar Salman, Bahrain's Fifth Naval District and Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, and shot down a U.S. MQ9 drone attempting to interfere in the operation.
Air raid sirens sounded in ‌Bahrain and Kuwait, officials said. The Kuwaiti army said air defences were confronting "hostile" missile and drone attacks.
The U.S. earlier unleashed fresh military strikes and revoked a licence allowing Iran to sell oil in response to attacks on three tankers in the strait.
The U.S. Central Command said more than 60 small boats of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were among the targets hit, in a bid to impose a heavy cost on Iran for strikes on shipping in violation of the ceasefire.

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has warned that “safety is more important than adding to an already-crowded calendar” with Formula One ******* sing whether to revive this year’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
The race in Bahrain had been due to take place on April 12 but it was put on hold due to the conflict in the Middle East. The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, pencilled in for the following week, was also postponed.
However, F1 chief Stefano Domenicali revealed at last weekend's British Grand Prix that there is a possibility of at least one of those events being restored to the calendar “in the right moment and the right conditions,”
He also stressed the importance of safeguarding the grid’s 2,000-strong travelling circus.
The Press ******* ociation understands Bahrain is the most likely option of the two venues to be brought back, with a date of October 4 mooted – a vacant gap in the schedule between the races in Azerbaijan on September 26 and Singapore on October 11.

Markets enter a holiday-shortened week facing geopolitical escalation as Iran launched new strikes against U.S. bases in Bahrain and Kuwait early Sunday. This continued back-and-forth pattern of attacks threatens the fragile U.S.-Iran peace framework and raises risks to the Strait of Hormuz access established through last week's memorandum of understanding.
The escalating hostilities create renewed uncertainty about energy market stability just as investors were gaining confidence in normalized oil supplies following the MOU breakthrough.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran's president said Monday that $6 billion in frozen Iranian ***** ets would be released by Qatar, as negotiations with the United States were challenged by attacks across the Persian Gulf this weekend.
Masoud Pezeshkian 's mention of the funds appear aimed at selling the Iranian public on the interim deal, particularly as its grip on the Strait of Hormuz has been tested by efforts to open Oman's territorial waters to both inbound and outbound traffic from the Persian Gulf. Iran's attacks and threats stopped cargo ships and tankers from moving through the strait, in which about a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed in peacetime, creating a global energy crisis.
The strait has long been considered an international waterway despite its location in Iran and Oman's territorial waters. In recent days, Iran has twice attacked vessels going through a route near the Omani side, drawing retaliatory American airstrikes and concerns that negotiations to reach a formal end to the war could be disrupted. Iran launched drone and missile attacks targeting Bahrain and Kuwait on Sunday.
Pezeshkian offered praise for the interim deal in comments published Monday by the state-run IRNA news agency, calling it "a great victory for the Iranian people."
"Based on the plans made, $6 billion out of the total $12 billion of Iranian resources in Qatar will be released and returned to the country, and necessary follow-ups are being carried out," he said. He did not elaborate.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Liberian oil tanker made its way out of the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday despite threats to shipping from Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, using a new route close to Oman's shore that has been promoted by a U.N. maritime agency.
The transit of the Stoic Warrior and the threats come as tensions rise between Iran and the United States over the terms of their interim accord aimed at permanently ending the Iran war.
From getting ships through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf to the future of Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium, the two nations are increasingly debating the terms of the deal signed last week.
Through the signing of the memorandum of understanding, the U.S. and Iran agreed to a 60-day period to iron out these and other details. Until that happens — during private talks — leaders from both countries will also continue to negotiate in public, raising the risks of derailing the shaky ceasefire in the region.
On a trip to the Middle East, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke Thursday with Gulf Arab officials in Bahrain, the island kingdom in the Persian Gulf home to the Navy's 5th Fleet, trying to ****** uage their concerns.

(By Oil & Gas 360) – This week reminded markets that energy disruptions are rarely confined to the oil patch. Concerns over stalled U.S.–Iran negotiations, shrinking inventories, strained shipping routes, and growing LNG demand all pointed to the same reality: the world’s energy system remains vulnerable to supply shocks. While oil flows continue moving through Hormuz, the margin for error appears increasingly thin.
Oil closed up more than 4% after reports that indirect U.S.–Iran talks had halted, reviving concerns about prolonged disruptions and potential blockades affecting key shipping routes. Prices later steadied as Iran reviewed a U.S. proposal aimed at ending the conflict, highlighting the market’s sensitivity to every diplomatic signal.
Why it matters:
The market continues to swing between escalation and diplomacy. Every setback in negotiations reinforces the risk premium embedded in oil prices.
The IEA warned that commercial oil inventories could reach critically low levels ahead of peak summer demand if current stock draws continue. At the same time, Vitol’s Bahrain chief warned that Western policymakers remain dangerously complacent about the scale of the supply challenge.
Why it matters:
Markets can absorb disruptions when inventories are abundant. They become much more fragile when stockpiles are already being depleted.

The 2026 F1 season was supposed to usher in a massive new era of technical regulations, but right now, the paddock is entirely consumed by a massive geopolitical and logistical nightmare. With the race calendar suddenly shrinking and the future of several major Grand Prix weekends hanging in the balance, the grid is actively lobbying the FIA for an emergency rule change. According to an exclusive new report from GPblog, a majority of Formula 1 teams are actively pushing to temporarily relax the mandatory rookie free practice requirements for the 2026 campaign.
Under the heavily updated sporting regulations for this season, every single constructor on the grid is strictly mandated to surrender their highly coveted Free Practice 1 (FP1) sessions to a rookie driver four separate times over the course of the year. In practical terms, this means both regular race drivers within a team are required to hand over the keys to their multi-million dollar machinery twice per season.
The fundamental goal of the regulation was universally praised: force the notoriously closed-off F1 paddock to give emerging young talent vital seat time in current-spec cars during an official, high-pressure Grand Prix weekend. However, as the global situation continues to heavily impact the sport, the teams are arguing that fulfilling this specific four-session mandate is rapidly becoming an impossible logistical mountain to climb.
The sudden panic in the paddock all stems from the rapidly deteriorating racing calendar. Formula 1 has already been forced to indefinitely postpone the opening Grands Prix in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia due to the escalating war and severe geopolitical instability in the Middle East. Because of these massive regional disruptions, it is highly questionable whether those two specific races will ever be rescheduled later in the season.
More concerning for the teams is the massive dark cloud now hanging over the tail end of the 2026 championship. The traditional season-ending races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi are currently deeply uncertain. Historically, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix serves as the ultimate rookie playground, with almost the entire grid opting to burn their mandatory FP1 rookie sessions at the Yas Marina Circuit, where the track data is less critical, and the risk of a high-speed crash is significantly lower.

(By Oil & Gas 360) – The oil market has spent the past several weeks trading optimism. Prices have retreated from their crisis highs as investors bet that diplomacy, ceasefire extensions, and negotiations between Washington and Tehran will eventually restore flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
Yet a growing number of traders, ****** ysts, and industry executives are warning that markets may be focusing too heavily on headlines while underestimating the physical realities developing underneath.
That concern was reinforced this week when Tom Baker, managing director for Bahrain at global commodities trader Vitol, warned that oil markets may be underpricing the risks ****** ociated with the ongoing Iran conflict. According to Baker, the real challenge may not be crude production itself, but the growing shortage of refined products and the inability of the physical system to recover quickly enough if disruptions continue.
His warning comes as evidence continues to mount that the global energy system is becoming increasingly strained. Iran’s effective restrictions on Hormuz traffic, infrastructure damage across the region, and interruptions to refining and export facilities have already removed substantial volumes from the market.
Vitol estimates that roughly 14 million barrels per day of Middle Eastern supply have been impacted, creating what some market participants describe as the largest supply disruption in modern oil market history.

LONDON, June 2 (Reuters) - The oil market is underpricing some risks from the Iran war, global commodity trading house Vitol's ‌managing director for Bahrain, Tom Baker, said on Tuesday.
Iran's ‌effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on energy infrastructure including oilfields and refineries, have taken about 14 million barrels of Middle East supply offline, causing the largest oil supply crisis in history.
"Crude can come back online, but from a product perspective, it might be very ‌hard for the system ⁠to catch up for the rest of the year," Baker said at the S&P Global Energy Middle ⁠East Petroleum and Gas Conference in London.
"The turning point could be when someone really needs those physical molecules and the physical molecules just aren't there to buy."
The Middle East conflict and effective closure of the ‌Strait of Hormuz sent oil prices as high as $126 a barrel, though they have since receded and stood at about $95 on Tuesday.

China and Russia veto UN resolution on protecting Hormuz shipping

By David Brunnstrom
April 7 (Reuters) - China and Russia on Tuesday vetoed a U.N. resolution encouraging states to coordinate efforts to protect commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, calling the measure biased against Iran, while Washington's ambassador to the world body called on "responsible nations" to ‌join the U.S. in securing the waterway.
The 15-member Security Council voted 11 in favor of the resolution presented by Bahrain, with two against - China ‌and Russia - and two abstentions.
U.S. President Donald Tr

مقال #د ._شمسان_المناعي.. بعنوان: "التعليم المدمج بين دور المعلم والذكاء الاصطناعي"
#مقالات #البلاد #البحرين #صحيفة_البلاد #Bahrain