The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend scheduled for April 17 through 19 at Jeddah Corniche did not happen. Formula 1 and the FIA cancelled both the Bahrain Grand Prix (April 10 through 12) and the Saudi race on March 14, citing "the ongoing situation in the Middle East region." [1] The 2026 calendar dropped from 24 races to 22. F1 left a five-week gap between the Japanese Grand Prix on March 27-29 and the Miami Grand Prix on May 1-3 — the first April without a race since 2020.

BBC's F1 correspondent estimated the commercial hit "well over £100 million" to F1 and its 11 teams combined. [2] The Bahrain weekend at Sakhir was categorically lost; the Saudi race in Jeddah was less clear-cut, with the Saudi Motorsport Company pushing for the race to proceed before F1 concluded the safety risks were unacceptable. [3] The FIA's Formula 2, Formula 3, and F1 Academy rounds were also cancelled for both weekends.

Ziggo Sport pundit Robert Doornbos told Dutch media Monday that one proposal circulating would replace Abu Dhabi's traditional season finale with a rescheduled Jeddah date — "because that is their gem," he said — though F1 has not confirmed any calendar changes. [4] The cancellations mark the first direct F1 revenue loss to the Iran war, and the first case of a sanctioned sports calendar contracting for a reason other than a pandemic since the sport's commercial expansion of the early 2000s. The paper has tracked the war's second-order effects in Alzheimer-drug reviews, helium supply, drought, and measles. F1's calendar joins that list.

-- DARA OSEI, London