The cancelled round and the relocated one
Formula 1 called off the April Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix in mid-March 2026, ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix. The decision followed the outbreak of war involving Iran at the end of February, which brought missile strikes across the Gulf, including on Bahrain, and closed major airports in the region. With personnel safety impossible to guarantee, F1 and the FIA confirmed that neither April date would go ahead. The cancellations left a five-week gap between the Japanese Grand Prix (29 March) and the Miami Grand Prix (3 May).
Saudi Arabia stayed cancelled. Bahrain did not. On 26 July, F1 and the FIA confirmed that the Bahrain Grand Prix would run at Malaysia's Sepang International Circuit on 2–4 October, slotted between Azerbaijan and Singapore. It ran as the "Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia", with the Bahraini government as promoter. It was Sepang's first Grand Prix since 2017, and Max Verstappen won it. That took the season back up to 23 rounds. Both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are on the 2027 calendar.
Sprint weekends
Six sprint weekends in 2026, the same total as in 2025 but with three new venues. China and Miami kept their sprint slots. Silverstone returned to the sprint format for the first time since hosting the first-ever sprint in 2021. Canada, Zandvoort and Singapore hosted sprint weekends for the first time. Belgium, Austin, Brazil and Qatar, all sprint venues in 2025, rotated off the sprint calendar. With Singapore done, all six of this year's sprints have now been run. The 2027 calendar increases the count to ten.
The sprint format was unchanged from 2025: sprint qualifying on Friday afternoon, the sprint itself on Saturday, Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday afternoon, the Grand Prix on Sunday. The sprint awards points to the top eight finishers (8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1).
What changed for 2026
Imola is gone. The Emilia-Romagna GP was not renewed, ending Italy's two-race calendar.
Madrid debuted on 11–13 September. The new Madring street circuit took over the Spanish Grand Prix title; Barcelona stayed on the calendar as a separate event, the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, in June.
Zandvoort's final year. The Dutch GP returned in 2021 on the back of Verstappen's popularity and ended after 2026, when its contract ran out. The final Dutch GP had sprint status, and Lando Norris won it.
Tighter geographic flow. Canada moved from June to May to follow Miami directly. A consolidated European run from Monaco through Madrid replaced the old trans-Atlantic back-and-forth. The run-in goes Austin, Mexico City, São Paulo, then Las Vegas, before a Qatar and Abu Dhabi double to close.
For SA viewers
European rounds started around 3pm SAST, civilised viewing. What's left of the season is mostly late nights. Austin and Mexico City start at 10pm SAST, São Paulo at 7pm. Las Vegas, at 6am SAST on Sunday 22 November, is the brutal one (the race runs at 8pm on Saturday night local time). Set an alarm if the title is still live by then. Qatar is a comfortable 6pm SAST.
The Abu Dhabi finale on 6 December starts at 3pm SAST, an easy Sunday afternoon if the championship goes to the wire. It will almost certainly be settled before then. Kimi Antonelli leads by 123 points with five races left, and a top-nine finish in Mexico City on 1 November makes him champion.