Prime Tire Newsletter | This is The Athletic’s F1 newsletter. Sign up here to receive Prime Tire directly in your inbox twice a week during the season and weekly in the offseason.Welcome back to Prime Tire, where today I’m thinking about how this Formula 1 season might end — not in terms of the title tussle involving Mercedes drivers Kimi Antonelli and George Russell, but instead, how F1 can logistically schedule its end-of-season calendar around the current geopolitical state.I’m Alex, and with Luke Smith and Madeline Coleman enjoying well-earned vacations over the F1 summer break, it’s just me in your inbox today.Imola Circuit: The case for the Italian track’s returnAs of Monday, F1 is officially on its summer shutdown — the mandated two-week period during which no work can be done on the cars, so everyone pretty much just goes on holiday (or vacation, for our American readers!).For those working in the paddock, there’s two real choices to be made:
Get on yet another plane but go somewhere to relax.
Avoid airports at all costs and catch up on sleep at home (my preference, FWIW).
Anyway, we’re halfway through a season without an end date, since the two races scheduled in Qatar and Abu Dhabi are unsure to happen due to the ongoing Middle East conflict.This has already led to the Bahrain Grand Prix (sort of) being canceled, twice, with the event now taking place at Malaysia’s Sepang track in early October.That strange deal came about very quickly, as F1 looked to adapt its contingency plan to try and ensure at least 21 races could take place (the critical number to fulfill commercial contracts, including TV broadcast deals).The decisions for Qatar and Abu Dhabi will be known by mid-September. If they can’t go ahead as planned, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said a replacement race will happen somewhere in Europe. This means the season will either be capped at 22 races (if Qatar and Abu Dhabi are canceled) or 23 (if the schedule runs its planned course, with the finale at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina track slated for Dec. 6).The front-running track to step in should the need arise, however, is Imola, which lost its place on the F1 calendar after the fifth edition of the Emilia-Romagna GP took place in 2025.The Portimão track in Portugal has been floated as a likely replacement. But as it’s being reconfigured ahead of the returning Portuguese GP in 2027, it seems it can’t complete its construction and host the season-ending race at the same time.Enter Imola.My first thought was indeed, “Imola in December will be so cold the tires won’t work!” It was ridiculous. I know. I forgot there’s already proof against such a pessimistic assumption.Let’s turn to the Las Vegas GP:
