Qatar eyeing Formula 1 future?

Qatar has announced plans to bring its Losail circuit up to the standards required to host a Formula 1 Grand Prix.

The Middle Eastern circuit currently hosts a round of MotoGP and held the first night race in the series' history earlier this month.

Now the circuit aims to try and bring itself up to F1 standards to ensure that Qatar is able to host a round of the Formula 1 World Championship in the future, with the possibility that the country could join Bahrain in holding an event in the Middle East.

"We are planning a massive upgrade of the Losail circuit to make it possible to host Formula One races when the time comes," Qatar Motor and Motorcycling Federation president Nasser Khalifa al-Attiyah told Qatar's Gulf Times. "We will be shortly inviting tenders for the job and once we decide on whom to award the contract, work will start soon."

al-Attiyah added that bringing the circuit up to F1 standard could also provide teams with a new testing venue in future, which in turn would help to bring in more money.

"You cannot say what is going to happen in the future," he said. "Formula One teams can use the track for testing which will put Qatar on the map and also help us earn good revenue."

Whether or not Qatar would aim to host a Formula 1 race under lights in future remains to be seen, although the MotoGP event was deemed to be a success by the majority of people involved.