This year's Race of Champions will be postponed by a week if the Indian Grand Prix is pushed back to Dec. 4 to accommodate the return of Bahrain to the Formula 1 calendar. The Race of Champions is currently scheduled to take place on Dec. 3-4 at Frankfurt's Commerzbank-Arena.
The event always attracts a number of Formula 1 drivers, with Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher already committed, but event boss Fredrik Johnson confirmed that a contingency plan is in place.
The FIA will hold its annual prize gala in Delhi on Dec. 9, but Johnson is confident that flight links will allow drivers required to attend that event will be able to make it in time for the first day of the Race of Championship for the Nations Cup.
"We have a backup plan," Johnson told AUTOSPORT. "We had to because of the situation. The first option would be to move it to Dec. 10-11.
"There are direct flights from Delhi to Frankfurt and the Nations Cup is on Saturday. We would prefer to keep the date, but if there was a change, we are prepared to react and move the Race of Champions."
Johnson added that the deal with the Commerzbank-Arena included a contingency plan to move the event if required, meaning that there is no difficulty in changing date. He confirmed that anyone who has bought a ticket for the event will be allowed a refund if they are unable to go to the rescheduled Race of Champions. But he does not believe that attendances will be hurt if the Indian Grand Prix is moved back to December.
"The stadium is available, so it's not a problem," said Johnson. They are completely aware of the situation with F1 so that is also in the agreement with the stadium.
"We always told the drivers at the beginning that there was a risk that something could change so all of the drivers that we have confirmed so far have agreed for the original date and the backup date. I don't think that a change will affect the crowd in a big way. You can never tell. We would prefer the original date, but it won't cause any problems."