{"id":602406,"date":"2026-04-14T01:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T01:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/602406\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T01:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T01:29:09","slug":"more-f1-calendar-changes-likely-amid-saudi-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/602406\/","title":{"rendered":"More F1 calendar changes likely amid Saudi pressure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"date\">APRIL 13, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Former Formula 1 driver Robert Doornbos believes the cancellation of April&#8217;s Middle East races may not be the end of the story, with fresh calendar changes now being actively discussed.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.grandprix.com\/display\/photo?photo_caption=Isack+Hadjar%2C++Saudi+Arabian+GP+2025&amp;photo_copyright=%C2%A9+Red+Bull&amp;photo_url=https%3A%2F%2Fphotos.grandprix.com%2Fjpeg%2Fraces%2Fpsau25%2Ffri%2Fred%2Fhadjar5-lg.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/hadjar5-rd.jpg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Isack Hadjar,  Saudi Arabian GP 2025<br \/>\u00a9 Red Bull<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on Ziggo Sport&#8217;s De Stamtafel program, the Dutchman &#8211; who is closely involved with the Abu Dhabi GP &#8211; said pressure is mounting to reinstate the Saudi Arabian race later this year.<\/p>\n<p>I heard something else, he said.<\/p>\n<p>We know Aramco as the sponsor of Formula 1.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, Saudi oil giant Aramco is not only a major backer of the sport and the Aston Martin team but also deeply tied to the Saudi Arabian GP.<\/p>\n<p>They are promoting the event in Jeddah enormously, because that is their gem. Jeddah could yet come back to the calendar this year, Doornbos revealed.<\/p>\n<p>The race was originally scheduled for April but was scrapped due to the Middle Eastern conflict.<\/p>\n<p>However, Doornbos says a return is being explored &#8211; most likely at the end of the season. They now say that they are moving Abu Dhabi for a week and that they are poking Jeddah in between, he said.<\/p>\n<p>That means you finish the season with four races in a row &#8211; Las Vegas, Qatar, Jeddah, and Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n<p>Under that scenario, the Saudi Arabian GP would take place on December 6, with Abu Dhabi moving to December 13 &#8211; with its long-standing status as the season finale.<\/p>\n<p>Abu Dhabi has a contract that says they always host the final race. That has been the case for 15 years, Doornbos noted.<\/p>\n<p>The reshuffle would create an intense end to the season, potentially adding to an already packed calendar.<\/p>\n<p>It will probably take a while before the calendar changes are confirmed, said Doornbos, with the final decision dependent on how the Middle East situation develops.<\/p>\n<p>(GMM)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"APRIL 13, 2026 Former Formula 1 driver Robert Doornbos believes the cancellation of April&#8217;s Middle East races may&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[2226,3769,3798,3825,3812,3756,3757,3806,3846,1205,3833,3778,3782,49,48,581,95,3788,3820,3811,578,3753,3818,3763,3018,930,3754,576,580,577,3781,3790,3808,3758,3759,3751,3822,3801,3774,3823,3840,3827,3847,3800,3844,3750,3752,3772,2454,3789,3775,3765,3784,3768,3814,3780,3761,3794,3850,3803,3792,932,3795,3777,3843,3845,3824,3773,590,3760,3834,3837,3810,3836,3797,2338,3842,2475,3815,3785,3019,3764,3802,3786,3805,3828,582,3755,1882,3829,3771,3793,3807,3783,3841,3799,3014,3762,3796,3766,3779,3835,3838,3849,3839,82,3831,3832,3816,3776,3830,926,3787,3848,3819,3826,3809,3767,3770,3791,1196,3817,3813,3821,3804],"class_list":["post-602406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-abu-dhabi","tag-adrian-sutil","tag-albers","tag-alesi","tag-ammermuller","tag-autoracing","tag-autos","tag-badoer","tag-bahrain","tag-barcelona","tag-benetton","tag-bruno-senna","tag-button","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cars","tag-china","tag-david-coulthard","tag-davidson","tag-doornbos","tag-f1","tag-f1-racing","tag-fauzy","tag-felipe-massa","tag-fernando-alonso","tag-ferrari","tag-fia","tag-formula-1","tag-formula-one","tag-formula1","tag-giancarlo-fisichella","tag-gilles-villeneuve","tag-glock","tag-grand-prix","tag-grandprix","tag-grandprix-com","tag-hakkinen","tag-hamilton","tag-heikki-kovalainen","tag-hill","tag-hockenheim","tag-honda","tag-hungary","tag-ide","tag-indianapolis","tag-inside-f1","tag-insidef1-com","tag-jaime-alguesuari","tag-japan","tag-jaques-villeneuve","tag-jarno-trulli","tag-jenson-button","tag-juan-pablo-montoya","tag-kamui-kobayashi","tag-karthikeyan","tag-karun-chandhok","tag-kimi-raikkonen","tag-klien","tag-korea","tag-kovalainen","tag-kubica","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-liuzzi","tag-lucas-di-grassi","tag-magny-cours","tag-malaysia","tag-mansell","tag-mark-webber","tag-mclaren","tag-michael-schumacher","tag-minardi","tag-monaco","tag-montagny","tag-monte-carlo","tag-monteiro","tag-montreal","tag-monza","tag-motorsport","tag-nakajima","tag-nick-heidfeld","tag-nico-hulkenberg","tag-nico-rosberg","tag-paffett","tag-pedro-de-la-rosa","tag-piquet","tag-prost","tag-racing","tag-racingcars","tag-red-bull","tag-renault","tag-robert-kubica","tag-rosberg","tag-rossiter","tag-rubens-barrichello","tag-san-marino","tag-sato","tag-sauber","tag-schumacher","tag-scott-speed","tag-sebastian-vettel","tag-sebastien-buemi","tag-senna","tag-silverstone","tag-singapore","tag-spa","tag-sports","tag-spyker","tag-super-aguri","tag-sutil","tag-timo-glock","tag-toro-rosso","tag-toyota","tag-trulli","tag-turkey","tag-valles","tag-verstappen","tag-vettel","tag-vitaly-petrov","tag-vitantonio-liuzzi","tag-webber","tag-williams","tag-winkelhock","tag-wurz","tag-yamamoto","tag-zonta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}