The important thing right now is to call for restraint, calm, a de-escalation, and a quick end to the war. Nobody gains from this action and there is a lot to lose.
The Israeli-led, US-backed strikes on Iran, invasion of Lebanon, and the retaliatory strikes across the wider region, has caused chaos in the Gulf. Bahrain and Qatar have both suffered missile attacks for a war they didn’t start.
The important thing right now is to call for restraint, calm, a de-escalation, and a quick end to the war. Nobody gains from this action and there is a lot to lose.
Some have called motorsport ‘war by other means’, a peaceful way to advance technology and demonstrate your prowess by doing so on the racetrack. Let us hope for a day when that is where it stays.
For the immediate term, as a blog about motorsport and race calendars, let’s look at the impact on the racing world.
Bahrain and Qatar were scheduled to host motor racing events in the next two months, along with Saudi Arabia. Add in the United Arab Emirates, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and we may see other events at risk later in the year.
One site attacked was just 7km from Bahrain International Airport, the only realistic way of reaching Bahrain International Circuit from abroad, and barely a 30-40 minute drive from the circuit. In Qatar, Lusail International Circuit is in close proximity to Doha. And we’ve all seen the missiles intercepted over Dubai in the UAE.
And with the Saudi Arabian GP also due up soon, although I’ve not seen reporting of attacks on the country, we must remember the Grand Prix itself was threatened in 2022 by Yemen’s Houthi rebels and is therefore also at a serious security risk right now. Nothing can be considered off the table.
I have had a lot of thoughts about all of this but I think it is best to save those for another time and focus on what the racing world needs to do next, while we all hope for a return to calmer times.
International air travel
A significant amount of international air travel these days is routed through the region. This will have a knock-on effect to global business and will include the travel plans for the majority of the race series that travel the world. Many Grands Prix and race teams are sponsored by Gulf-based airlines. Travel to Australia, China and Japan for many team personnel will include stops offs in Dubai or Doha.
You can imagine some frantic changes going on already, big logistical challenges for staff and freight, not to mention the cost increase. These are not insurmountable in this day and age but it’s a burden they don’t need. Not just F1 operations with hundreds of staff flying out, but also something like a small GT team running to a tight budget.
Events At Risk
In the immediate term there are four events to think about in March and April. There is then a gap before major international racing is scheduled to return in November. It is good the Asian Le Mans Series, FR Middle East, UAE F4, etc. all completed their seasons in February.
I will update this page over the next couple of weeks as news comes out.
March & April
22 March | FIA WEC | Prologue, Qatar – Moved to 14 April at Imola;
28 March | FIA WEC | Qatar 1812km – Rescheduled to 24 October;
Race postponed to ‘second half of season’. If things calm by mid-summer I would expect this race to be rescheduled to late October, there is a gap in the schedule, and the Bahrain race is in November. [Edit 13/03/26: race rescheduled to 24 October]
If tensions are still high by September, I anticipate Qatar and Bahrain will be cancelled and WEC may attempt to run one race somewhere else in replacement.
The Prologue has been moved to Imola on the Tuesday of race week.
12 April | MotoGP | Qatar Grand Prix – TBC;
Carlos Ezpeleta says they have been talking with Qatar/Lusail and while it is unlikely they will go, they can’t it rule out just yet. (Motorsport.com 04/03/26)
12 April | F1 | Bahrain Grand Prix – TBC;
19 April | F1 | Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – TBC;
As of the time of writing there is no news on F1’s plans. [Edit 13/03/26: These races are expected to be cancelled and not rescheduled.]
Also worth noting that Formula 2 and Formula 3 are scheduled to go from Melbourne to their next race in Bahrain. Decisions need to be taken on this.
Later in the year
Motorsport returns to the Gulf region at the end of the year. I’m expecting we won’t hear decisions about these until August/September at the earliest.
14 November | FIA WEC | 8H Bahrain – TBC;
29 November | F1 | Qatar Grand Prix – TBC;
6 December | F1 | Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – TBC;
Let us hope the situation has calmed by then and that cooler heads have prevailed.
There are only losers from this conflict, there are no winners.
The 2026 IndyCar Series season starts this weekend. There are some really interesting changes, but also a controversial one.
The 2026 IndyCar Series season starts this weekend. There are some really interesting changes, but also a controversial one.
Get your Google Calendars for the 2026 IndyCar season right here!
A Return And A Debut
After the traditional St Petersburg opener on 1st March, we see a completely revamped spring season. What used to be empty is now busy!
The first thing to spot is no more race at Thermal ‘country club’. It was only attended by a handful of rich folk at their private members club, which happens to be a racetrack. Barely any fans at all. The series was trying to make connections with some potential backers and get a pay cheque. Don’t know that a lot of sponsorship came of it. The optics of racing at an empty venue were not good, even if there was a business case. I will say the 2025 Grand Prix was a lot better than 2024’s heat races, it was more like a typical IndyCar Grand Prix at Barber or Mid-Ohio. But I don’t think many fans will be sad to see this go.
We now see two very different races fill the gap and they are in the two weeks immediately after St Pete.
The oval in Phoenix, Arizona returns with a really interesting twist in that it supports the NASCAR Cup Series. At IndyCar’s last visits in 2017 and 2018 there was poor attendance and very poor racing (no passing). Hopefully the link up with NASCAR helps the former, and pre-season testing indicates an improvement to the latter. We only have a couple of weeks before we find out. It’s also a very good thing to have an oval before Indy.
A week later there’s an exciting new race in Arlington, Texas. It is next to AT&T Stadium (Dallas Cowboys) and encircles Globe Life Field (Texas Rangers). The track map for this looks promising and I’m even hoping it might turn out to be Formula 1 grade, in the style of Miami Autodrome (which is based around the Hard Rock Stadium), rather than IndyCar’s usual collection of bumpy streets that haven’t even been resurfaced. There is a lot of promotion and potential for this one as well. I really hope it is a success.
Track map of the GP of Arlington
The only downside to Arlington is that it effectively replaces Texas Motor Speedway, north of Fort Worth and only 30 miles away from AT&T Stadium. TMS has been a staple of IndyCar for years and can be a really interesting oval race. Unfortunately, the stands have been shockingly empty the last few years, which did not reflect the quality of the on track product. Arlington sits halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth, everyone in the area should know the venue, so hopefully we see a crowd. You can see the large General Admission areas in the graphic.
Two weeks later they go to Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama. We then get a quiet 5 weeks where there’s only one race, Long Beach.
Month of May
Last year’s Month opened at Barber. This is an off week in 2026. The ‘Month of May’ opens with the IMS road course race, as per the new tradition. Then action moves to the IMS oval for days of free practice leading into Qualifications weekend. A week later on May 24th, is the 110th Indianapolis 500.
How time flies, it feels barely 5 minutes since we celebrated the Centennial Era, a whole decade ago.
A quirk of the calendar this year sees a fifth weekend in the month, we actually close out the month with the Detroit Grand Prix. I still dislike that we go to a street track the week after Indy. But we go back to the ovals a week later with the Gateway 500km.
For fans of both IndyCar and F1, as covered last week, Monaco and Indy don’t clash any more. Instead, it’ll be the Canadian GP and it’ll follow Indy. But we still get an IndyCar oval to enjoy after Monaco with the Gateway race later that day.
For the teams, going non-stop from loading in at Indy for practice on May 8th, until Gateway on June 7th, is a pretty intense month.
Summer
The next three races are in a steadier format, one week on, one week off for Road America, Mid-Ohio, Nashville. The change being Nashville Superspeedway moves to mid-July, forgoing the season-closer spot it’s held recently. That’s a real shame. It was a brilliant way to end the year. I enjoy the mix of street and road courses but it just felt right to finish on an oval.
After two weekends off, we’re into the second hectic month of the year.
From Portland on August 9th to Laguna Seca on September 9th, IndyCar will race every week and on one weekend they’ll do it twice. 6 races in 5 weekends. Great for us fans! Less good if you are a team truck driver.
From Portland (Oregon), Toronto, Washington D.C., Milwaukee (Saturday & Sunday races), then back across to Laguna Seca (California).
A smarter person than me can tell you why Oregon and California aren’t paired up. I know they are still a very long way apart North-South, but in my head the East-West journey is much longer and it makes sense to stay out West to do those races together.
After 40 years at Exhibition Place, the Honda Dealers Toronto Indy moves to Markham. When this was announced I saw a lot of complaints from Canadian fans including those who live in Toronto. I don’t know anything about the new location so I’ll take my lead from them. What I do know is Exhibition Place is both a) iconic, and b) carnage. The amount of crash damage that track has caused. It has provided a lot of fun over the years as well as some good races. I’m sure the layout there could be changed to be better.
I love that Milwaukee Mile gets two races. They are some of the best of the year, in any series.
Laguna Seca will never be my choice for a season finale. The gravel runoffs cause Safety Cars. It’s hard to overtake. The race should always be on the calendar, I would just prefer a different last race of the year. But I get it. A warm Californian weekend and some good wining and dining for the end of season banquet.
Again the season ends on the first weekend of September, purely to avoid the American sports behemoth of the NFL. NASCAR is big enough to get away with it. It doesn’t seem to trouble the US F1 races. Yet this plan seems to work for IndyCar.
Iowa does not return this year. A real shame for a super-fast short oval that often creates exciting races.
Controversy
The Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington is being run to ‘celebrate the 250th Birthday of the United States’. In normal circumstances under most other Presidents this might be a celebratory event. That’s not the case with this President, one of the most divisive in history whose approval rating is tanking.
It was enough to see some die-hard IndyCar fans I know decide they are not going to watch that race, and even some of them saying they will not watch the series at all this year. I have thoughts on this that may follow here in a few days.
Politics aside, there’s also the logistical challenge. The race was only announced a few weeks ago. It is scheduled for August. Streets races don’t just happen with 8 months notice. It normally takes over a year of planning, with track design, permit approvals, road closures, everything you need to get the local authorities lined up, police, medical, etc., not to mention sourcing the barriers, grandstands, food vendors and portable toilets. This guy thinks he can sign an executive order and it’ll just happen.
This is not like calling Watkins Glen or COTA where you could probably book it at a months’ notice and make a serviceable, if not perfect event out of it.
There’s a danger this event will be so rushed it could be an embarrassment. And then you wonder who will turn up. Will it be like Trump’s vanity military parade that was a ghost town?
Summary
A perfectly balanced season! 6 ovals, 6 permanent road courses, 6 temporary street circuits (if you count Arlington as such). I feel like IndyCar has wanted this ratio forever.
There’s one potentially great addition in Arlington and that should’ve been the big story. I hope Phoenix works this time.
They’ve avoided a date clash with Le Mans. Last year Gateway was on LM24 weekend. As it happens, moves in team and driver rosters are likely to mean IndyCar drivers won’t be going this year either, but it’s good to have the option and maybe there’ll be a surprise.
There are a lot of later-season changes I either don’t care for, or outright don’t like. Losing Iowa, moving Nashville out of the season finale spot.
And I just feel the whole Washington debacle has put a real downer on everything.
2026 IndyCar Calendar
You can add the 2026 IndyCar schedule to your calendars here!
For the 2026 race schedule we see one race gone, some important races moved, and add a new venue! But is it all good?
The 2026 Formula 1 season is soon upon us. It’ll be a really interesting season with new cars, new changes to the hybrid engines, new moveable aerodynamic devices, and new overtake boost rules replacing DRS.
For the 2026 race schedule we see one race gone, some important races moved, and add a new venue! But is it all good?
Get your Google Calendar for the 2026 F1 season right here!
Monaco’s Move
The biggest change in this year’s schedule is the movement of Monaco to June.
Montreal moves to 24th May, the Indy 500 date!
Monaco moves to 7th June.
Barcelona moves to 15th June, the weekend of the Le Mans 24 Hours!
If there are two big races in the world where clashes should be avoided, they are the Indy 500 and the Le Mans 24 Hours. My instinct is to deride the idea of putting a North American F1 race the same day. Let’s look more closely.
Indy 500: Usually Monaco ends a couple of hours before Indy starts. This year Indy runs first, Montreal will start just about when Indy ends. Literally minutes apart. It’ll be close, it’ll rely on no red flags or delays at Indy, not even a lot of Safety Car. But if all goes well only the pre-race and post-race coverage will clash. And that might prove perfectly fine for those at home, ignore the talking heads and just watch the racing. The downside will be for North American media coverage, especially Canadians who will have to choose where to be.
Le Mans 24 Hours: There will be a direct clash. The 24 Hours usually finishes at 4pm CET. At the time of writing, Barcelona is due to start at 2pm CET. This is clearly not good. If it’s an exciting finish to Le Mans you’ll probably stay on that. If the race is decided in the early hours, you might switch, or second screen F1. Many people will prioritise F1. But let’s be frank, as much as I love Spain, the Barcelona GP is rarely action-packed. It’s often a snoozer. It should be quite easy to follow both races if you have access to both feeds. Again, it’ll be a choice for those among European media who tend to cross over.
My problem is with the oxygen of publicity and airtime. F1 has a tendency to overwhelm everything else. The Indy 500 and Le Mans 24 Hours deserve to be the biggest stories of their respective weekends. That’s why I’m pleased Monaco is on a weekend where it can be the sole focus (with apologies to IndyCar at Gateway which follows it). It’s the addition of Montreal to that weekend that I don’t like.
But again, with all due respect to the importance and history of the Montreal and Barcelona races, they are not Monaco, or Indy, or Le Mans. This year I wonder if the prestige of Indy and Le Mans might carry their own weight against ‘regular season’ F1 GPs. I have a feeling that will be the case, at least among the fans.
Week To Week
The season starts a week earlier than last year and finishes in the same week.
Last year there was a triple-header in the first three weeks of April. This year, Suzuka moves a week earlier and there’s a week off before the Bahrain-Jeddah desert swing. Easter weekend is left clear.
The changes in May mean last year’s packed month, Miami followed by a triple-header of Imola-Monaco-Barcelona, looks very different. This year we still have Miami to open the month but the only other race in May is Montreal.
Obviously, in logistical terms it makes a lot of sense for Montreal to follow Miami. I just don’t know why it can’t be on one of the free weeks either side.
Most of the rest of the year follows a similar pattern to 2025.
It’s a tough end to the season. COTA, Mexico City, Interlagos run over three weeks, then there’s just a weekend off, before the Las Vegas, Qatar, Abu Dhabi triple.
We had this two years ago, but with two weekends off in between. Last year, there was a week off either side of Interlagos. Both years, everyone in the paddock looked absolutely shattered. They were pushed too far. This year is going to be even harder.
The 12-hour change from Las Vegas to Lusail is particularly brutal and I don’t understand it. I get why LV can’t be moved, you have to fit with the demands of a busy city, but I don’t understand why Lusail has to be the week after.
If we have to have Lusail, and I don’t know why we do because it is a terrible race and an awful way to end the year, could we not move it to join the Bahrain-Saudi races in March? We should really do the same with Abu Dhabi. This would give us races grouped by region, which would be great for travel plans and logistics. As fans you might even try to do as many as possible. But, Abu Dhabi pays a fortune to be the season-closer and that’s important money to F1.
New Venue
The title of the Spanish GP moves to the new street race around a convention centre in Madrid. A track called the MADRING – yes ALL CAPS! On the face of it the layout doesn’t look good, and the location doesn’t sound appealing, but it can be so hard to tell from a map. I hope it’s a better race than my expectations of it so far. I will keep an open mind. This will be the week after the Italian GP at Monza.
The old Spanish GP venue will now host a race called the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix. In future years this will alternate with the Belgian GP at Spa. I have big concerns about this. When it was tried by the German GP it never worked. And so it collapsed. There were other reasons of course, including Schumacher’s retirement. But I fear the same will happen here to both races.
One sad bit of news is that 2026 sees the last Dutch GP for the foreseeable future. A shame. The changes to Zandvoort were brilliant and I love to see such a big excitable crowd there. The Dutch love a party and the energy coming through the TV screen surpasses anywhere else. Even if it means having to listen to bad techno.
We have also lost the Imola race which does not return this year. This is a shame, again the atmosphere there is brilliant and is sometimes worth the race itself perhaps not being quite as good as some others. Who doesn’t love Northern Italy in the Spring?
Sprint Races
The sprints at Spa, COTA and Qatar are gone.
Montreal, Silverstone and Singapore will host their first F1 Sprints. These join Shanghai and Miami which retain theirs from last year.
I think Montreal and Silverstone will work well. I am not so sure about Singapore, I have a feeling everyone will worry about trashing the cars so will play it safe.
There Are Too Many Races
I’ve always argued for quality over quantity. 17 or 18 races, that ballpark felt right. If you want to watch more than that get interested in other championships!
Start with F2 & F3. Move into IndyCar. Sportscars. MotoGP. Touring cars. There’s a world of other motorsport to get into. F1 is the gateway drug. The trouble is, with 24 weeks out of 52 devoted to F1, where’s the time for anything else?
Now we have 24 Grands Prix plus 6 sprints and it’s overwhelming. There is a Grand Prix on 46% of the weekends this year. How are we to have the time to watch other series, never mind hold other interests in our lives?
With six races in seven weeks to end the season, everyone in the paddock looks exhausted and I feel tired just watching it. It ends too late. Personally I would drop Lusail, Miami, Barcelona, Jeddah. These events would not be missed.
F1 should end in mid-November at the latest. The weekend currently occupied by Interlagos is perfect, and what a race to end on that would be.
Let’s keep the good venues and make them great events.
2026 F1 Calendar
You can add the 2026 F1 schedule to your calendars here!
The 2026 Formula E schedule, or ‘Season 12’ in FE parlance, has been added to the calendars.
Here is a brief look at the changes since last year.
The season started at the end of last year, which is something FE used to do. This was the same date as the Formula 1 season finale which happened to come down to a title decider. It’s not the smartest move. I don’t remember anybody talking about anything other than F1, it was obviously going to take up all the airtime.
This weekend it is the turn of Mexico City on the short version of the layout but with the full Peraltada, the cars having more power than grip means the back end steps out around there, which is very cool.
The Miami round has been moved from Homestead-Miami Speedway to the F1 circuit, the Miami Autodrome. I think this is a good change. I’ve not seen the Homestead round yet but I’m told it wasn’t a good look, even if the racing itself was perfectly fine. Miami Autodrome feels like a better fit.
We have another road course round in March, with the Circuito del Jarama near Madrid joining. Test days have been held there already for Gen3. I’ve only ever seen one race there but the only thing I’ve heard about Jarama is it’s impossible to overtake there. Perhaps a slipstreaming, peloton-style Formula E race will be different.
With the Gen4 car looking to be another step up in pace, I feel like it is inevitable we’ll see a swing towards road courses and F1-grade “street” tracks like Miami.
A return to Sanya in China is also on the cards, followed by two races at Shanghai International. Sanya was used once before, in 2019, and I wonder if we’ll see the same layout this time? It was a very dramatic race ! A lot of contact. Some of these tight turns may need some work.
Highlights of the 2019 Sanya ePrix
There has been some reshuffling among the other races.
Shanghai and Tokyo move from May to July. Berlin goes the other way.
London moves later, to mid-August, which is a really good date as season finale. Being in the middle of the F1 summer break it has a better chance of some traction. It is also in the middle of the school holidays in Britain and hopefully this will attract families to the races! This weekend makes a lot of sense to me.
Jakarta is the only round we lose from last year, so we have a net gain of one race for a total of 17.
I Watch Too Much Racing 