The majority of MotoGP riders still prefers to avoid travelling to the Qatar Grand Prix amid the Iran war, but the balance of opinion has shifted considerably over the past few days.

During meetings held at Phillip Island last weekend, three-quarters of the grid expressed their opposition to travelling to Doha. A week later, however, that number had fallen to just three riders, as became apparent during Saturday's meeting in Malaysia.

Friday's gathering began at 7pm and lasted an hour in the Sepang paddock. It took place in Yamaha's communications department office after a request for a meeting room was rejected by the championship authorities. That detail alone offers an indication of just how strained relations have become.

For several days now, the riders have been resigned to having to travel to Qatar, despite the reluctance of most of the grid, which remains deeply concerned about the instability in the region following the outbreak of war between the US-Israeli alliance and Iran in February.

Although the conflict has entered a period of relative calm, nobody can predict how events might unfold from Tuesday onwards, when the United States holds its midterm elections.

The threat remains, although individual countries have adopted different levels of caution. Most nations represented in the MotoGP paddock are advising their citizens to postpone any travel to Qatar, although these recommendations do not amount to an outright ban.

That distinction is crucial, as an official travel ban could provide grounds for invoking force majeure, allowing the event to be cancelled without the championship facing financial consequences.

Until that happens, the Qatar Grand Prix remains firmly on the schedule for the organisers, teams and riders alike. The latter have also received one or more warnings about the potential consequences should they be considering ways to avoid fulfilling their contractual obligations.

Autosport understands that, in this dispute, the riders find themselves isolated on one side – with their employers, championship commercial rights holder MGPSEG and the Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) on the other.

The message conveyed to them has been unequivocal: under the current circumstances, the race must go ahead.

From the organisers' perspective, cancelling the event would have enormous consequences. This is particularly the case because, according to sources within the organisation who have spoken to Autosport, the Qatari government has provided the necessary guarantees to ensure that the grand prix can take place as normal, while also protecting everyone attending should hostilities escalate.

Those guarantees cover matters such as an evacuation plan for the entire paddock if required, financial protection against costs arising from a potential closure of Qatari airspace, and repatriation insurance in the worst-case scenario.

Carlos Ezpeleta

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images

Earlier this week, MGPSEG deputy managing director Carlos Ezpeleta travelled to Doha to attend a conference, giving him an opportunity to experience first-hand the atmosphere in the Qatari capital, where the Losail circuit is located.

"Everything is completely normal," one member of the delegation accompanying the executive told Autosport.

Ezpeleta subsequently flew to Malaysia, arriving on Friday, the very day the riders held their gathering at Yamaha.

The riders are already aware of what they could face should they decide not to travel to Qatar. Unless they can provide an entirely legitimate and unequivocal justification for their absence, they risk facing repercussions from several directions.

On the one hand, their teams could pass on any financial penalties imposed on them by the championship organisers.

On the other, the FIM could interpret a failure to attend as a serious breach of the regulations, potentially leading to sporting sanctions extending beyond the current season and into the next.

Autosport understands that any rider who fails to turn up in Doha to take to the track on Friday risks being barred from competing in the final two rounds of the championship, in Portugal and Valencia.