Domenicali Wants Bahrain Back on the 2026 Calendar

• F1 president Stefano Domenicali has revealed hopes of restoring the Bahrain Grand Prix to the 2026 calendar after its April cancellation.
• Sky Sports understands the race would take an October 2-4 slot between the Azerbaijan and Singapore Grands Prix, adding a 23rd round to the current schedule of 22.
• A decision must be made before the summer break, which begins following the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 26.

Formula 1 president Stefano Domenicali says the sport is hoping to restore one of the two races lost earlier this season to a conflict-driven cancellation in the Middle East. Speaking at Silverstone over the British Grand Prix weekend, Domenicali confirmed that the topic is being actively considered and that a decision will need to come before the end of this month.

The Bahrain Grand Prix and the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix were both removed from the 2026 calendar after conflict in the region made them unworkable. Both had been scheduled for April. At the time, there was no suggestion that either could be rescheduled. Domenicali’s comments at Silverstone represent the first formal indication that restoring one of them is a live possibility.

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An October Slot Between Baku and Singapore

Sky Sports F1 understand that the race under consideration for restoration is the Bahrain Grand Prix, and that the proposed slot sits on October 2-4, between the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and the Singapore Grand Prix. That gap exists in the current calendar and could accommodate a race without requiring changes to the surrounding rounds.

Domenicali chose careful language when addressing the topic at Silverstone, but the intent was plain. “If there is something that we can announce also related to the possibility of seeing if there is any space for what has not been done so far, we’re going to do it, in the right moment and the right conditions,” he said in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports F1.

“That is really the hope,” he added. If all the conditions are right, he said, the sport will go ahead with its plan. “If there is a chance, why not?”

The Decision Must Come Before July 26

The timeline is tight. Domenicali confirmed that any decision to reschedule Bahrain must be taken before F1’s summer break, which follows the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 26. That leaves a window of roughly three weeks for the details to be agreed.

“I think that the gap to do the eventual possibility of doing one of the races that we have not done, we need to do it before the summer break,” Domenicali said. The summer break marks a logistical dividing line for the teams, and arrangements of this scale require decisions well in advance of the race itself.

The 2026 season opened with 24 rounds on the calendar. The two Middle East cancellations brought that to 22. A restored Bahrain race would push it back to 23, one short of the original total.

Qatar and Abu Dhabi Still on Track

Domenicali also addressed the season’s final two races, scheduled for Qatar on November 27-29 and Abu Dhabi on December 4-6. Both countries were affected by the regional conflict that led to the April cancellations, and there has been uncertainty over whether they would be able to proceed as planned.

Domenicali expressed hope that they will go ahead, and suggested that a successful Bahrain race in October would serve as an indicator that conditions in the region are stable enough for the season to close as intended.

“Our duty is to make sure we are ready to run our calendar as it is planned,” he said, adding that F1 is monitoring the situation and that a completed race would send “an incredibly positive message for sport, and also politically”, a sign that the disruption in the region is behind us.

Where the Championship Stands as the Calendar Takes Shape

Silverstone is the ninth of the 22 currently scheduled rounds. Kimi Antonelli leads the Drivers’ Championship by 43 points over his Mercedes team-mate George Russell, having won the British Grand Prix Sprint on Saturday to claim his first-ever Sprint victory. Charles Leclerc qualified on the front row alongside him for Sunday’s main race.

The calendar question is about more than logistics. A restored Bahrain Grand Prix would add more points opportunities in the second half of the season, shaping the arithmetic for every team fighting at the front. Whether that race happens, and in what conditions, will become clearer before the end of July.

Domenicali gave no firm commitment, only a direction. The sport wants it back. The conditions have to be right. “If there is a chance,” he said, “why not?”

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Written by

Jack Renn

Jack Renn is an editor at F1 Chronicle and a veteran motorsport journalist with 25 years of experience covering Formula 1 and international motorsport. A member of the Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive (AIPS), the global body representing accredited sports journalists, Jack has spent his career reporting from paddocks and press rooms across the F1 calendar. His work spans race analysis, technical insight, and in-depth features, giving readers authoritative coverage grounded in decades of firsthand experience at the highest level of the sport.

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