F1 to make final ’26 calendar call in September, rules out extra U.S. race due to NFL

Formula 1 will make a decision on the final two rounds of the 2026 season in mid-September at the earliest, with any replacement race to be held in Europe to avoid further clashing with the NFL season in the United States.

The races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia were postponed in April due to the war with Iran, and a recent attempt to reschedule one of the races in early October had to be abandoned due to the ongoing instability in the region. That led to the Bahrain Grand Prix being relocated to Malaysia, and the focus has now turned to whether the Qatar and Abu Dhabi races at the end of the season can still take place.

“With regard to the end of the season, we are in touch with all the other championships, and I know that, for example, WEC has announced that they will not go at the end of the year in the Middle East and they will stay in Europe,” Formula 1 president and CEO Stefano Domenicali said. “The way that we are structured is that we will take the maximum time for us to see how the situation will develop. And we will take the decision at the right time.

“That moment will be not before the middle of September. For us today, the race in Qatar and Abu Dhabi are confirmed – they are already sold out. That is an incredible sign of how much the sport is bigger than the problem that our world is living – but of course, if the situation will not be clearer the way that we believe it should be, before the middle of September, we will take the decision.

“And in that respect, I just want to confirm to you that if this will not be possible, that the end of the season will be in Europe, because we cannot go in other places. So the end, eventually, will be in Europe.

“There are some possibilities on the table. I don't think it's right to make some promises or anticipate the circumstances, but that's the situation of today. So even if I really hope that it will not be the case, if the situation will not allow for us to be there, we’re going to finish the championship in Europe.”

Domenicali also confirmed that Imola (pictured above) is one of the options on the table should a replacement be required, but that there are also multiple other venues under consideration. Las Vegas hosts the race immediately prior to the two rounds in the Gulf, and Domenicali said the possibility of hosting an extra race in Nevada was briefly considered but dismissed.

“Definitely, I can guarantee to you that we will not do any other race in the U.S.," he said. "There was a possibility of having two races in Las Vegas, but we don't want to ruin… a jewel that is growing by undervaluing what we are doing there.

"And, of course, we don't have to forget in that period of the year, we are fighting against the NFL. That is a major sport that is... I don't want to say detracting, but a lot of fans are watching that. So we need to avoid any kind of situation that would put us in front of something that, of course, is still very big in the U.S.

“Therefore, considering the constraint that we have, we need to go back to close all the Brexit-connected documentation from abroad in the UK and then go to another place. Therefore, as I said, the only possibility is to finish in Europe within the same framework of the time, hoping that there will be no snow!

“I remember we were in the Nurburgring when we had been many years ago, the racing, we had also a situation where we had some spits of snow that actually became rain. So hopefully this will not happen. If it's happening, we will try to react to that… I think that the weather should allow us to race in Europe, even at the beginning of December.”