Could the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix land October reprieve if Middle East situation allows?
It is possible that the Bahrain Grand Prix could be reinstated back onto the 2026 F1 calendar, reports Adam Cooper.
A reprieve for the Bahrain Grand Prix in October remains a possible option for Formula 1, if the situation in the Middle East improves in the coming months.
However, Crash.net understands that the idea is not being actively pursued at the moment, given the ongoing uncertainty in the region.
The Sakhir and Jeddah races were both dropped from the 2026 schedule on 14 March, with the announcement noting that they “will not take place in April.”
While there was a legal and contractual element to the word “cancelled” not being used the phrasing also left the door open for the races to be rescheduled within this season.
In recent weeks there have been suggestions that the Abu Dhabi GP could be moved back a week from December 6 to December 13 in order to free up space to potentially reinstate Jeddah event, thus creating a quadruple header with Las Vegas and Qatar.
However, there is not much support for a later conclusion to the season. Teams are not keen on the idea of finishing the year with an unprecedented run of four consecutive races, which would be an organisational and logistical nightmare.
In addition the FIA prizegiving gala is scheduled for December 12 in Shanghai after a full week of General Assembly activity.
A more realistic option that has been mentioned is to utilise the currently free weekend of October 3-4, which falls between the Azerbaijan and Singapore races, thus creating a logistically sensible triple header – with Bahrain potentially in the middle of it.
Haas boss Ayao Komatsu confirmed in Miami on Thursday that the idea had been floated.
“There was talk about being reinstating it around Singapore Grand Prix time, one of the races possibly,” he said. “But it's really depending on obviously the situation in the Middle East.
“But I don't think we will have anything after Abu Dhabi, that will be too late. We're not going to make the season longer. So the only realistic gap is around Singapore GP time.”
Future planning remains subject to the political situation in the Middle East, with the obvious priority being to ensure that the Qatar and Abu Dhabi races go ahead as currently scheduled.
Any call on reinstating an extra event will have to be taken with plenty of notice.
In this article
Adam Cooper attended his first F1 race at Brands Hatch as a 10-year-old fan in 1976. He became a freelance journalist for Autosport magazine in 1985 while still at university, initially covering everything from club racing to the FIA World Sportscar Championship.