“A week of rest and the season would end on December 20”
Formula 1 is reportedly considering an extraordinary late-season calendar reshuffle that would push the 2026 season all the way to Christmas week.
According to DAZN journalist Tomas Slafer, Formula 1 is actively studying plans to recover the cancelled Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix after both events were removed from the April schedule because of the Iran conflict.
“The idea was to include Saudi Arabia no matter what,” Slafer explained during DAZN’s Canadian GP coverage.
“Now Formula 1 is also considering including the Bahrain Grand Prix.”
“They want to reschedule the two races that were cancelled in April, but there are very few slots left on the calendar.”
According to the proposal currently being discussed, Bahrain would move to October 2-4 between Azerbaijan and Singapore. That would trigger a brutal closing run to the season featuring three separate triple-headers.
“The calendar would be such that after the Madrid GP, after the European tour, we would have a triple header which is Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Singapore,” Slafer said.
“Then a week of rest, a triple header which is Austin, Mexico, Brazil. Then a week of rest, a triple header which would be Las Vegas, Qatar, Saudi Arabia.”
“A week of rest and the season would end on December 20 in Abu Dhabi.”
If approved, Formula 1 would effectively stage 10 races across 13 weeks during the final stretch of the championship.
Slafer warned the schedule would create enormous logistical and physical pressure throughout the paddock. “From mid-September, we would have 10 races in 13 weeks,” he said.
The report added that Formula 1 currently cannot formally confirm the revised calendar while uncertainty remains around the geopolitical situation in the Middle East.
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