F1 plans four Middle East races in 2027 while 2026 Qatar and Abu Dhabi decisions remain unresolved

The 24-race schedule for 2027 released on Wednesday opens with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 14 and Saudi Arabia a week later, with Qatar and Abu Dhabi also scheduled at the end of the year.

All four venues hold long-term contracts to host F1. Yet races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia were called off this year due to the Iran war, with an extra race in Malaysia next month carrying Bahrain Grand Prix branding as a replacement.

The 2026 Qatar Grand Prix on November 29 and the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on December 6 remain on the schedule, with tickets still on sale for both events. Among potential alternatives in Europe, a season-ending race at Italy's Imola circuit is widely considered the likeliest option, as GPblog has previously reported.

F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said in July that the sport had set a mid-September deadline, telling reporters: "The deadline for the decision of any possible change of the actual calendar is the middle of September." That window has now arrived without a public decision. As recently as last week, Domenicali told reporters that F1 still intends to keep the scheduled calendar, saying "at the moment, we want to confirm that the calendar will remain as it is."

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem defended the wait in an interview this month with the AP, arguing F1 was right not to "jump the gun" on deciding.

Speculation over possible changes heightened this week as Formula 2 added an extra race to its schedule next week in Azerbaijan. F2 confirmed that its Baku round will feature an additional qualifying session and a second feature race as part of what it is dubbing a "supersized" weekend format. As GPblog reported, the weekend's schedule had already been shifted a day forward to avoid clashing with Azerbaijan's Remembrance Day.

F2 said it would still race in Qatar and Abu Dhabi with a "usual weekend format." But the move, announced just ten days before the race weekend, is an unusual and late decision that inevitably raises eyebrows given the broader uncertainty.

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix next week will be the closest F1 has been to Iran since the outbreak of the war earlier this year. Azerbaijan shares a land border with Iran. The Middle East races are especially valuable for F1 and its teams, with Saudi Arabia's Aramco and Qatar Airways serving as major series sponsors.

With four Middle East races embedded in the 2027 calendar, the unresolved 2026 situation raises the question of what happens if the uncertainty that has shaped this season carries into next year.