after the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian grands prix were called off<\/a> from their original April dates due to the conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\nF1 president Stefano Domenicali confirmed there is still hope of recovering one of those events, with Bahrain understood to be the most likely option.<\/p>\n
The available slot is believed to be October 2-4, between the Azerbaijan and Singapore grands prix, although any move would depend on safety, logistics and the wider political situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf 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\u2019re going to do it, in the right moment and the right conditions,\u201d he told Sky Sports F1.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is really the hope, because if all the conditions are right, we\u2019re going to go ahead with our plan. If there is a chance, why not?\u201d<\/p>\n
Domenicali said any decision on reviving one of the cancelled races would need to be made before F1\u2019s summer break, which begins after the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 26.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Restoring Bahrain would take the current calendar from 22 races to 23, moving F1 closer to its original 24-round schedule.<\/p>\n
It would also provide a clearer indication that the championship expects its season-ending rounds in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to proceed as planned.<\/p>\n
Those races are scheduled for November 27-29 and December 4-6, but both have remained under review because of the broader uncertainty in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Domenicali said F1\u2019s priority is still to complete the calendar currently in place.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur duty is to make sure we are ready to run our calendar as it is planned,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
F1 has also prepared contingency options if Qatar or Abu Dhabi cannot go ahead, with Portimao emerging as the leading fallback.<\/p>\n
The Portuguese circuit is already due to return to the calendar in 2027 and previously hosted F1 during the Covid-affected 2020 and 2021 seasons.<\/p>\n
A second Las Vegas race and a European finish involving Portimao and Barcelona have also been reported as alternatives, though neither appears to be F1\u2019s preferred outcome.<\/p>\n
A call on the final rounds is expected later than the Bahrain decision, with the championship understood to have until mid-September to lock in any major changes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"F1 is still exploring if the Bahrain and Saudi Grands Prix can return to the calendar. Image: XPB…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":783939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,260773,817,813,816,260774,85,52474],"class_list":["post-783938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bahrain-gp","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-saudi-arabian-gp","tag-sports","tag-stefano-domenicali"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"F1](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/XPB_1397305_HiRes.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SCA-1196-Wk1-Cat-BPO-Speedcafe_728x90.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n