War and F1
The escalation of war in the Middle East hit two countries that were supposed to host the Formula 1 world championship in April, the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
The two races – scheduled for 12 and 19 April respectively – are obviously at very high riskeven if the F1 leaders are proceeding with great caution in their statements.
A world championship with 22 races?
Sky Sports UK he explained that a decision on the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix will be taken “no later than March 20th”. And, even more important notethe two stages will not be replaced and the world championship will be reduced from 24 to 22 GPs.
Portimao and Imola were evaluated as possible alternativesbut the time required to organize the event was too short to be able to include them in the 2026 calendar.
The possible cancellation of the two grand prix will thus create a space for five weeks between the third match in Japan (29 March) and the next in Miami (3 May).
Stefano Domenicali, president of Formula 1, explained: “Our approach is geared towards the safety of all parties involved. We don’t want to make any statements today, because the situation is evolving and we have time to make the correct decision and it will be taken together. This has already not been an easy week, we had people in Dubai and Bahrain for the Pirelli test and in Doha. We had many flights booked across the Middle East and we had to reschedule everything.”
