Formula 1's Grands Prix in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in April are set to be called off this weekend due to the conflict in the Middle East, reducing the 2026 season to 22 races. The decision, expected to be formally announced by Sunday, represents the most significant calendar disruption of the year as geopolitical reality collides with the sport's logistical machinery.
United States and Israeli attacks on Iran are continuing while Iranian drones and missiles have hit some Middle Eastern capitals including Bahrain's Manama, where most team personnel would be staying in hotels. The situation has become untenable for race organisers and competing teams. A Pirelli tyre test in Bahrain was cancelled between February 28th and March 1st after the attacks began, with Iran launching a missile at the US Navy's Fifth Fleet command centre in Bahrain, with missiles also being launched at Qatar, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi.
The cancellations are not a matter of choice but necessity. Multiple sources told Reuters an announcement, seen within the sport as just a matter of time, was expected by Monday at the latest with a March 20 deadline looming for freight that has to be transported to Bahrain for logistical reasons. Because all Formula 1 equipment is shipped first to Bahrain and then transported overland to Jeddah, cancelling one race without the other is logistically impossible. If one grand prix of the two is cancelled, then the other will also be called off.
Sky Sports News understands the Middle East races in April will be cancelled by the end of this Sunday and will likely not be replaced on F1's busy March-December schedule, meaning the season would run to 22 Grands Prix weekends. The financial implications are substantial; reports indicate cancellation costs exceed $100 million in hosting fees alone, a significant loss for a sport that depends heavily on race promoter payments.
The broader picture reveals how quickly international events have escalated. On 28 February 2026, Israel and the United States began a series of strikes against Iran. They said they aimed to induce regime change in Iran and target its nuclear and ballistic missile programme. In response to the attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran on February 28, 2026, Iran launched retaliatory missile and drone strikes targeting U.S. embassies, military installations, and oil infrastructure (including vessels in the Strait of Hormuz) throughout the Middle East.
Audi team principal Jonathan Wheatley told reporters after practice at the Shanghai circuit: "They've always led us in the right direction. Nobody's going to compromise on anything that would put teams into an uncomfortable situation." Team principals have largely deferred to the sport's governing bodies on the decision, reflecting the consensus that safety must trump competition schedules.
The 2026 schedule being reduced from 24 to 22 races means a five-week void between the third round of the new season in Japan on March 29 and the Miami Grand Prix on May 3. A gap like this in the active World Championship schedule is unprecedented outside of the summer and winter breaks which are traditionally planned far in advance.
The broader motorsport calendar has already adjusted to the crisis. The World Endurance Championship (WEC) has already postponed what would have been its season-opener in Qatar on March 26-28, with the first race now scheduled for Italy's Imola circuit on April 19. These cascading cancellations underscore how deeply the conflict has disrupted international travel and logistics networks across the Gulf region.