Formula 1 wants to put one cancelled Middle East race back on the F1 calendar for 2026, and Stefano Domenicali says the call has to be made before the summer break. The sport is weighing which race can fit, with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia both taken off the original plan after conflict in the Middle East.
Domenicali and Silverstone
Domenicali used an interview at the British Grand Prix to set out the timing. “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.”
He added: “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?” The clearest operational detail is the deadline. “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.”
Bahrain and Saudi Arabia
Both races were originally scheduled for April and then cancelled because of conflict in the Middle East. The possibility now being worked through is not a full reshuffle of the season, but a single opening for one event that never ran. Sky Sports F1 understand the restored slot would be October 2-4, between Azerbaijan and Singapore.
That timing matters because it sits inside the late-season section of the schedule, where Formula 1 is trying to keep the calendar stable while leaving room for a race it did not stage earlier in the year. Domenicali also said: “Our duty is to make sure we are ready to run our calendar as it is planned.”
Qatar and Abu Dhabi
He said he hopes the final two races of the season in Qatar and Abu Dhabi will go ahead as planned, with Qatar set for November 27-29 and Abu Dhabi for December 4-6. That leaves Formula 1 trying to balance a possible reinstated race against the races already locked into the run-in.
There is a second layer to the schedule pressure. Bahrain and Saudi Arabia were cancelled because of conflict in the Middle East, yet Formula 1 is considering restoring one of those races to the 2026 calendar. Domenicali said: “And we are monitoring the situation because it would be an incredibly positive message for sport, and also politically, that we are moving in this direction, because if this is happening, it is something we can say is behind us.”
Kimi Antonelli at Silverstone
The British Grand Prix weekend added another headline with Kimi Antonelli, who won the British Grand Prix Sprint on Saturday and took pole for Sunday's full-length race at Silverstone. He leads the Drivers' Championship by 43 points from George Russell. For Formula 1, that keeps the title fight active while the calendar decision is being pushed toward the summer break.
Which of the two cancelled races gets the slot, and whether Formula 1 settles it before the break after July 26, is the piece that still shapes the rest of the season.
