Formula 1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali has publicly confirmed what teams have been bracing for behind the scenes: a reshaped 2026 calendar is now under active preparation as Middle East tensions continue to threaten the second half of the season. Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have already been struck from the spring schedule, and the November-December double of Qatar and Abu Dhabi has been added to the contingency review.
Speaking in the wake of the Miami Grand Prix, Domenicali declined to be drawn on specific scenarios but acknowledged the sport now has working backup plans for the season's closing rounds. "To avoid any speculation, the only thing I can say is that we have plans," the Italian said. "We hope they don't have to be implemented because we truly hope that the situation, even just with regard to racing, returns to normal worldwide."
The F1 CEO confirmed the contingency programme has moved beyond paper. "We have plans, obviously, and preparation times and deadlines will depend on whether we can make up the races that weren't run in April," Domenicali said. "Discussions are being held in concert with the teams and promoters because this is an issue with a wide range of repercussions."
The "races that weren't run in April" refers to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, both pulled from the schedule earlier this year. Reinstating those rounds in the existing calendar gap between São Paulo (8 November) and Las Vegas (21 November) is one of the options on the table, alongside a straight shortening of the championship if the regional situation continues to deteriorate.
The live anxiety, however, is around the season finale. The Qatar Grand Prix is currently scheduled for 29 November and the Abu Dhabi-hosted finale for 6 December — both Gulf venues, both in regions where teams have privately raised security concerns to the FIA over the past month. A loss of the Yas Marina round in particular would force F1 to find a new title-decider venue at the end of an already disrupted year.
That is where FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem's positioning at the weekend becomes significant. The Emirati federation chief used a media briefing to publicly open the door to a surprise return for the Turkish Grand Prix at Istanbul Park — a venue that has hosted F1 as a one-off lifeline before, most notably during the COVID-disrupted 2020 and 2021 seasons. The remarks have since been widely interpreted as a green light for commercial talks with Istanbul Park's promoters, with multiple Italian and British outlets reporting that the FIA is prepared to support a one-off Turkish round if the Gulf finale falls through.
The political picture is more delicate than Ben Sulayem's open language implied. F1's sponsorship and host-fee architecture is heavily Gulf-weighted, with state-backed partners in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE all underwriting significant components of the championship's revenue base. Replacing those rounds is operationally feasible — Istanbul Park is an FIA-graded venue, fully homologated and used as recently as 2021 — but it carries commercial implications that go well beyond a single weekend.
For the teams, the immediate concern is logistical. With cost-cap pressures already biting and the 2026 cars still in their first development cycle, late changes to freight schedules and travel windows have a measurable budget cost. Privately, several principals have asked for a final calendar decision by the European summer break, citing the lead time required to secure freight contracts and personnel rosters for any new venue.
Domenicali's own message was more measured. "We hope they don't have to be implemented," he said of the contingency plans — a deliberately diplomatic line that acknowledges the geopolitical sensitivity while signalling, in unmistakable F1 commercial language, that the sport will not allow its 2026 season to be derailed by external events. The plans, he confirmed, exist. Whether they need to be activated is, for now, a question the sport's leadership cannot answer.
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*Originally published on [Formula One News](https://newsformula.one/article/domenicali-f1-contingency-plans-qatar-abu-dhabi-middle-east-2026-finale). Visit for full coverage.*