F1 will decide on Qatar and Abu Dhabi by mid-October. One of seven such races ran.
The last two F1 races of 2026 are still on the calendar. Teams expect a final decision by mid-October, with Imola in Italy ready as a back-up.
What happened
F1 team bosses said on that they expect a final decision by mid-October on whether the Qatar and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix, the last two races of 2026, go ahead.
F1 teams expect a final decision on the last two races of the season by mid-October. Qatar is due on 27- and Abu Dhabi on 4-. Both are still on the calendar. Team bosses heard the timing at an F1 Commission meeting on , and Audi’s Mattia Binotto said: “Mid-October is the last call for such a decision.”
The two races have been in doubt since the war in the Middle East began in February. In March, F1 and the FIA, the body that runs world motor sport, cancelled the April races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. In July, F1’s chief executive, Stefano Domenicali, said Qatar and Abu Dhabi were confirmed and promised a decision in mid-September. If they had to move, he said, the season would end in Europe.
That date slipped. Reuters reported on that the decision could move to October, and that many in the sport expected Imola to hold a final race on . The head of Qatar’s motor sport federation said the country “has been safe for months now”.
F1 still plans to go. Sky Sports reported on that F1’s leaders judge the region stable enough to race if the events were happening now. Imola is getting ready in case it is needed, and F1 will pay its costs either way. Lewis Hamilton said: “I personally want to go.”
Sources: Sky Sports (2, 3), Reuters
The Pattern
We looked for cases where a round of an international racing series stayed on the calendar after war or unrest began in the host country or region, and the organiser decided before race weekend. We found seven since 2011, and one went ahead on its date and at its track. Five of the seven come from this year’s war in the Middle East, and the FIA, which also has a say on F1’s calendar, took part in five of the seven decisions.
Show the other 5 cases
The Read
History leans against the races going ahead. Of seven races kept on the calendar after war or unrest nearby, one went ahead as planned: Bahrain in 2012, when the trouble was inside the country, not a war across the region. The two decisions taken late in the year came 59 and 88 days before the race, and only one named another track.
The record is small and closely tied together. Five of the seven come from this year’s war in the Middle East, and the FIA took part in five of the seven decisions. Two things are different now. F1 says the region is stable enough and it still plans to go, and Imola is ready as a back-up, which most of the cases did not have.
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