Posted on 03/13/2026 11:08:36 AM PDT by God luvs America
Formula 1 is set to cancel April's races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia due to the ongoing Iran war, sources confirmed to ESPN.
F1 was due to race in Bahrain on April 12 and in Saudi Arabia on April 19.
Both countries have been struck during Iran's response after the United States and Israel launched a wave of attacks on Iran.
Despite not knowing whether the conflict would be ongoing by the time their event dates roll around, a decision needed to be made imminently due to the logistics of when teams had to start sending freight to the Middle East for both events.
It is highly unlikely the races in the Middle East will be replaced, given the schedule at the back end of the year is tightly packed.
Without knowing when the conflict will end or whether there will be escalations in the conflict down the line, F1 does not want to be in a position where a championship is decided or influenced by a race being canceled at the end of the calendar.
That would mean the 2026 schedule being reduced from 24 to 22 races and a five-week void between the third round of the new season in Japan on March 29 and the Miami Grand Prix on May 3.
(Excerpt) Read more at espn.com ...
F1 ping...
9/11 screwed up a lot of events in the USA, so I’m not feeling too sorry for the locals.
SCHEDULE THEM HERE-—FANS WILL SHOW UP.
Exactly.
Not even close to lonely.
You have High Limit and USAC on Flo Racing, and WoO on Dirtvision, if they aren't close enough for you to attend in person.
Kyle Larson and Corey Day put on a good show last night at Las Vegas. Margin of victory was .096 seconds.
You might get some gritters in your beer, but that never hurt anyone.
The FIA could move the shutdown from August to April and shut down the shops then, while adding Portimao (set for 2027, could move the contract) the GP-Strecke in August. During the 2020 cancellation of April races, they held races at Imola, GP-Strecke, Portimao, and Mugello.
The FIM’s MotoGP (also owned by Liberty Media) has Reserve Venues on their calendar. MotoGP has a similar issue with Qatar on April 12. Could be moved to a reserve venue in August or be replaced by a ‘double-up’ (Marco Simoncelli or Red Bull Ring) or have a race on Angel Nieto on April 19 the week before the scheduled April 26 race.
(Yes, MotoGP tracks are named for motorcycling legends.)
Imola will host the FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours for sportscars that hosts most F1 rejects.
INDYCAR should be interesting that their next round in two weeks is Leeds, AL at Barber.
And Long Beach will be very late for European fans — the April 19 race is scheduled for a 23.45 CET start (14.30 local time). Fox will do a NASCAR/INDYCAR television double on the broadcast network that weekend — Cup Advent Health 400 from Kansas at 14.00 EDT and INDYCAR Acura GP of Long Beach at 17.45 EDT. The IndyCar race could start at 3 PM local time — which Fox wants to penetrate the primetime hours with racing. Two ovals are set for primetime races in INDYCAR this season.
With the average of 3:15 for a Cup race in Kansas, INDYCAR will be on immediately after the chequered flag in Kansas.
Many thanks for the heads-up.
See if F1 want to race at Lime Rock, the track Paul Newman raced at. Beautiful scenery in the hills of Northwestern Connecticut. Have one there and one at Dega...🤣
IndyCar in St. Pete was great...loved both the NASCAR trucks and the IndyCar combo...I think they’ll have it again...
1.53 miles is too short (Lime Rock). Need about 3.5 km for approval. The shortest contemporary F1 circuit is Bahrain (2.202 miles) but that was added as a late season change. The shortest scheduled circuit is 2.349 miles (Adelaide).
I see F1 Tilkerings as golf TPC stadium courses. Not as challenging as US Open types. They have the same characteristics, flat, fast straights into tight hairpins. Billiard smooth. See this week’s INDYCAR Arlington street circuit. Pavement is not smooth and changes. It is bumpy. It makes a suspension man earn his pay. A driver has to learn driving differently with bumps and to find optimum lines. Drivers learn to drive differently when different surfaces.
High Limit has something Kyle Larson and Brad Sweet have concocted:
One fan who buys his ticket early is chosen at random spins a wheel and determines which position (2-12) he gets. If that driver starting in that position gets the win, they share a cash jackpot.
And they will sell pit passes to fans. A pit pass is easily the most valuable part of motorsport Stateside. Photographers from F1 were stunned when they saw INDYCAR sold pit access at the IMS Road Course and fans mingled to watch the cars being worked.
Pit passes in dirt is easily valuable to race fans. They learn more with pit passes when they come home and see what they need in their road car. They appreciate what their mechanic does in aligning cars, tyre pressures, and doing setup.
I was being funny... Lime Rock is beautiful and the views are breathtaking. Lime Rock is an underrated track... Paul Newman loved it...
FWONK (the ownership of Formula One and MotoGP) announces Qatar’s MotoGP round set for April 12 will move to November. This creates a new season-ending run in MotoGP.
https://www.motogp.com/en/news/2026/03/15/motogp-confirms-new-date-for-the-qatar-grand-prix/1005668
October 25 - Phillip Island
November 1 - Sepang
November 8 - Lusail
The November 15 race at Portimão (Portugal) has been postponed, as has the November 22 race at Cheste (Spain).
November 15 is now an off-week.
November 22 is Portimao. The MotoGP season will end November 29 at Cheste (Valencian state of Spain).
There comes a new issue. The MotoGP test ban starts December 1 for the new 850cc formula in 2027. That will be waived as the Valencian GP race will be followed by the November 30-December 2 tests which will change the date.
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