{"id":653983,"date":"2026-05-07T15:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T15:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/653983\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T15:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T15:32:10","slug":"fia-confirms-2026-f1-calendar-backup-plan-after-middle-east-race-cancellations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/653983\/","title":{"rendered":"FIA Confirms 2026 F1 Calendar Backup Plan After Middle East Race Cancellations"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 Formula 1<\/a> season is already two races short, and the question of what replaces them or whether anything does at all is becoming considerably more complicated.<\/p>\n

F1 and the FIA<\/a> officially pulled the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian grands prix from the calendar due to the ongoing conflict in the region, leaving a 22-race season and a five-week gap between Japan<\/a> and Miami. It was a long break for fans, but working out a way to replace these is much harder.<\/p>\n

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The Turkish Grand Prix Could Return Early<\/p>\n

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem<\/a> has now confirmed that a number of scenarios are on the table, and one of them involves Istanbul Park racing<\/a> a year ahead of schedule.<\/p>\n

Formula 1 had already announced the Turkish Grand Prix would return to the calendar from 2027 as part of a new<\/a> five-year deal<\/a> with Istanbul Park, running through the 2031 season.<\/p>\n

But with the Middle East situation unresolved, an earlier appearance could be made by the circuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cAround Qatar, we could postpone by a week, push everything back,\u201d Ben Sulayem explained via NextGen-Auto<\/a>. \u201cOtherwise, perhaps we could have Turkey this year if they finalize their certification and meet the other requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

One rescheduling option would slot a race into the gap between the Azerbaijan and Singapore Grands Prix on October 2\u20134. Another involves running four consecutive races at the end of the season, with Abu Dhabi pushed back to December 13.<\/p>\n

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The FIA\u2019s preference, from a logistics standpoint, is to bring back Bahrain.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a logistical point of view, it\u2019s about determining the best scenario. We are consulting with the promoters. It\u2019s about knowing where we want to go, and we will try to facilitate things, but without putting our staff under pressure. That would be too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

But pressure is building from Saudi stakeholders who want Jeddah reinstated too, with officials pushing hard for a late-season return given the race\u2019s commercial<\/a> importance to the sport<\/a>\u2018s Gulf expansion plans.<\/p>\n

Rising tensions in the region aren\u2019t just a problem for the races already lost.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere is a bigger problem than motorsport<\/a>,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt\u2019s the way we live, the changes, the stress in this region.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re talking about the leaders there, as governments, the way they handled the situation, by not retaliating, was very wise. It takes strength not to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cSport can wait. What is more important? Human beings or motorsport? Or any sport? Human beings are always the priority. Hopefully this will end soon, so we can get back to normal and not live like we are now, with this stress.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod forbid, if this continues until October or November, we simply won\u2019t have to go, because safety<\/a> comes first.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Turkey, sitting outside the conflict zone entirely, is now positioning itself as a reliable<\/a> alternative, with its geography, established infrastructure, and a track record<\/a> of stepping in during calendar crises, for example during the pandemic years, making it a credible option in a way that few circuits can claim.<\/p>\n

Whether that\u2019s a contingency or an inevitability depends on events that have nothing to do with turning a steering wheel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 Formula 1 season is already two races short, and the question of what replaces them or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,12845,158899,10948,2190,82,3848,242476],"class_list":["post-653983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-istanbul","tag-istanbul-park","tag-mohammed-ben-sulayem","tag-red-bull-racing","tag-sports","tag-turkey","tag-turkish-grand-prix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653983","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=653983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}