Difficult recoveries
As already happened in 2020, although for very different reasons, this 2026 Formula 1 season is progressing without concrete certainty about when, how, and where the World Championship will end. This time it is not a global pandemic causing headaches and worries for those who have to define the race schedule for the second half of the season, but the war in the Middle East which currently seems far from its conclusion.
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The original plan of 24 scheduled races has, as known, been reduced to 22, with the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia events, which however have never officially been cancelled. This is because the Circus has always hoped to be able to reschedule both, or at least one of the two GPs, later in the calendar. However, as Domenicali himself admitted in a recent interview with Sky Italia, we are reaching the time limit to organize a recovery in these two countries.
Portimao or Baku doubleheader realistic solutions
F1, which, it must be said, from the point of view of logistical organization of events has shown in the past (especially in the Covid year, but not only) to have a gear up compared to most other global sports, has already had plans B and C ready for some time. One initial hypothesis is to race in Portimao, which in any case is already certain to enter the calendar in the 2027-2028 biennium; a more recent alternative, reported by the site GPBlog, is a double weekend in Baku. The advantage of racing two consecutive races on the same track is obvious and it should not be forgotten that both in 2020 and 2021 this solution was used to increase the number of GPs.
Final hanging by a thread
More difficult problems to solve come for the end of the World Championship: the last two GPs of the year are in fact scheduled in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, two countries that are anything but calm and safe at the moment. The collective hope is obviously that hostilities in the Gulf will end and that the races can be held at the scheduled venues without problems, but it is impossible to be certain now. It is no secret that the Middle Eastern F1 races represent some of the richest promotional contracts in the championship. The exact figures are obviously confidential, but some estimates have placed the fees for hosting races in the Gulf among the highest in the entire calendar. It is believed that each of these four GPs (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi) generates every year tens of millions of dollars for the right to host Formula 1.
If Qatar and Abu Dhabi were also cancelled, besides the heavy sporting impact and the not simple need to find alternative solutions to finish the championship (a double race weekend in Las Vegas, perhaps?), FOM would risk losing a considerable amount of revenue if considering the income from hospitality, sponsorship-related activities, and local commercial agreements linked to such events. Obviously, from a financial point of view, a cancellation due to force majeure circumstances beyond the control of both parties would certainly include ‘protection’ clauses. There would be the possibility for F1 to recover at least part of the lost money, but the negative economic and commercial impact would still remain.
For all these reasons, it is easy to imagine that F1 will do the impossible to try to ensure the regular running of the championship finale between Qatar and Abu Dhabi, while working behind the scenes on a plan B that – besides the sporting aspect – also protects the economic interest of the Circus as much as possible. The 2026 World Championship finale, therefore, is literally still unwritten.
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