F1 president reveals plan to restore one of 2026’s lost races - and what it means for the calendar
F1 is planning to bring back one of the two cancelled races in 2026.
Formula 1 plans to restore one of the two cancelled races back to the 2026 calendar.
Both the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, which were scheduled to be the fourth and fifth rounds of the campaign in April, were cancelled due to the US-Israeli war with Iran, resulting in an enforced and unplanned five-week break throughout the month.
The cancellations saw the scheduled 24-round calendar reduced to 22 races, but F1 is hopeful of returning Bahrain to the calendar at a later date, which would take the 2026 season up to 23 races.
"If there is something that we can announce also related to the possibility of seeing if there is any space for what has not been done so far, we're going to do it, in the right moment and the right conditions,” F1 president and CEO Domenicali told Sky Sports F1.
"That is really the hope, because if all the conditions are right, we're going to go ahead with our plan. If there is a chance, why not?"
What would it mean for the calendar?
It is understood that Bahrain would take place on 4 October, taking up a vacant slot on the calendar between the Azerbaijan and Singapore Grands Prix. This would create an additional triple header.
As a result, the 2026 season would conclude with nine races in 11 weeks, consisting of three triple-headers separated by one-week breaks.
Domenicali admitted that for the plan to go ahead, a decision would need to be made before F1’s summer break, which follows the Hungarian Grand Prix on 26 July.
"I think that the gap to do the eventual possibility of doing one of the races that we have not done, we need to do it before the summer break,” he added.
Reviving Bahrain would indicate that the final two races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi would be able to go ahead, despite uncertainty and instability in the Middle East as a result of the ongoing conflict.
However, Crash.net understands F1 has contingency plans in the event the final two races were not able to go ahead.
In this scenario, Portimao is waiting in the wings as a potential season finale to be staged after Las Vegas.
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