Report: F1 Cancels Mideast Races Because Of Iran War

by Tim Healey

Published: March 13th, 2026

report f1 cancels mideast races among iran war

A report says Formula 1 will cancel this year's races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. F1 is making this move in response to the Iran war.

The world's most well-known racing series was supposed to race in Bahrain on April 12 and in Saudi Arabia on April 19. Iran has been under attack from the United States and Israel, and Iranian weapons have hit both countries during the fighting.

Although both races are slated for over a month from now, the series is making the decision now because of the logistics involved in getting race cars, supporting materials, and drivers and staff to the area.

It's unclear if the races will be made up later this year. If that ends up being the case, the season will have 22 races instead of 24, and there will be five weeks between the next race and the one following. The next race, the season's third, is set for March 29 in Japan. If this report is accurate and the Middle East is skipped, the next race after Japan will be held in Miami, Florida, on May 3.

[Image: Formula 1]

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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