Official – The Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix have been cancelled, the season now consists of 22 GPs

As expected, the situation in the Middle East has claimed the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix. With tensions remaining high between Israel, the United States, and Iran, and bombings continuing in several Gulf countries, the world championship of Formula 1 will not be travelling to the Middle East for the two legs scheduled for April.

Why are the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian GPs cancelled? 

After hosting pre-season testing, the Sakhir circuit was scheduled to host Formula 1 as the fourth round of the championship from April 10th to 12th. The teams were then to travel to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the following week (April 17th to 19th) for the fifth edition of the night Grand Prix on the city's Red Sea coastline.

Ultimately, the fourth round of the championship will be held in Miami (USA), from May 1st to 3rd, more than a month after the previous race in Japan (March 27th to 29th). The possibility of organizing one or two replacement races during this period was considered, but the timeframe is too short to make such an event impossible, both logistically and due to ticketing issues.

Thus, it was decided that the calendar would be reduced to 22 Grands Prix, something that hadn't been the case since 2023. In recent days, cancellation—or at least postponement—had become inevitable as tensions remained high in the region and the World Endurance Championship (WEC) has already announced the postponement of its inaugural round in Qatar to October 24, two weeks before the final scheduled in Bahrain.

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What are the consequences for the championship?

For Formula 1, this doesn't change much in terms of the sporting aspect of the championship, except for the engine regulations. ADUO, an acronym for Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities, is a system introduced to help struggling engine manufacturers. Thanks to this, an engine manufacturer lagging between 2% and 4% behind the benchmark power output will be granted one additional upgrade. If the gap is greater than 4%, two additional upgrades will be awarded.

However, the measurements must be taken at each quarter point of the season: after the 6th race, then the 12th, and finally the 18th. Thus, the 6th race, initially scheduled for Miami, would now take place in Monaco on June 7th, a month later. This will significantly delay the engine manufacturers' development process, giving them less time to catch up. However, it is conceivable that the regulations could be changed so that the milestone points are repositioned at the quarter points of a 22-race season, i.e., after the 5th round in Miami, then after the 11th, and finally after the 16th or 17th. This would be less disruptive to the initially established plan.

The other change concerns the control of the hot compression ratio. The introduction of this new measure is scheduled to take effect on June 1st and is intended to curb engine advance. Mercedes BenzFor the Germans, it was therefore important to score as many points as possible at the start of the season, but with two fewer races, those are valuable potential points that have slipped away. However, this shouldn't change the overall picture of the season.

What future awaits the other rounds in the Middle East?

While Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have been removed from the calendar, no announcement has yet been made regarding the future of the Qatar Grand Prix and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the final two races of the season. Formula 1 will decide in due course whether these events will take place if the geopolitical situation has not improved in the coming months. However, with more than eight months remaining before the season at Losail, there is no immediate rush, and a normalization of relations certainly remains possible.

A decision is also expected for the other categories. MotoGP, which is scheduled to compete in a Grand Prix in Qatar on April 12, the same weekend Bahrain was originally planned for F1. A postponement is possible, and some rumors suggest that Liberty Media, the championship owner, is interested in moving the race to the same weekend as the Formula 1 Grand Prix so that both series can run concurrently.

However, this scenario seems unlikely in such a short timeframe, despite Liberty Media's stated intention to one day organize a joint weekend between the top categories on two and four wheels.