Announcing the following season’s Formula 1 calendar before the current one has reached its half-way point is a calculated power move – one the present regime seems to be making an annual fixture after it revealed this year’s running order in April 2024.
The message it sends to the wider world is one of peace between the stakeholders and commercial stability. But while this creates a safe environment in which to invest, it also leaves some fans feeling like new races are being added at every turn.
Aggressive calendar expansion began in the Bernie Ecclestone era – but in those days the line-up was seldom ratified until the final months of the year. Even then, it would often come freighted with asterisks.
In contrast, the recently announced 2026 calendar includes just one caveat: that the Madrid fixture is contingent on the circuit being finished.
This will also be a familiar scenario for old hands and not necessarily a deal-breaker. Certain areas of paint were still wet when Korea and Abu Dhabi first held their grands prix, while the paddock complex of India’s Buddh circuit had the unusual architectural feature of a staircase leading to an unbuilt floor.
On the 2026 calendar, Imola’s departure to make way for Madrid was signalled well in advance. Zandvoort, which hosts its final grand prix next season, will be next down the off-ramp.
But there are at least three more venues virtually assured a place on the F1 calendar when they are ready, and they will have to be accommodated somehow.
From Thailand to Saudi Arabia
Last year, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali spoke of there being 11 viable new venues expressing an interest in hosting grands prix. The list of ones with the political will and financial wherewithal to make it happen in a reasonable timeframe is rather shorter: Thailand, Rwanda, and the second Saudi Arabian circuit, Qiddiya Speed Park.
An Argentinian bid is also possible, driven by enormous interest in Franco Colapinto, but this is dependent on private investment rather than central government funding. The Autodromo Oscar y Juan Gálvez facility in Buenos Aires would also require major redevelopment.
Thailand’s project, which would encompass a street circuit in Bangkok, has been in the works for at least three years and Domenicali flew there for more meetings with prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra between the Australian and Chinese grands prix in March. Not only does Thailand have a driver in F1 – Alex Albon competes under a Thai licence – the country is home to the Yoovidhya dynasty, 51% owners of Red Bull GmbH.
Should the country join the F1 calendar it’s expected to happen no earlier than 2028.
Rwanda enjoys links with both the FIA and F1, having hosted last December’s FIA prize-giving ceremony, and it has held high-level talks with Domenicali. The vision is to build a permanent circuit near the new Bugesera International Airport taking shape near the Rwandan capital, Kigali. The location would be analogous to Malaysia’s Sepang circuit, which was built adjacent to Kuala Lumpur’s then-new international airport.
Bugesera is a major investment, costing an estimated $1.3bn, with Qatar Airways committed to taking a controlling stake as part of a plan to establish it as Africa’s biggest air traffic hub. It is due for completion in 2028 but plans for the circuit only exist on paper at present – drawn by former F1 driver Alex Wurz.
Significantly, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem is a key ally, since African motoring clubs are important to the mathematics which keep him in power.
Wurz is also behind the design of the Qiddiya Speed Park track, which is currently under construction on a new site near the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh. The facility will also feature a concert space and two theme parks once completed in 2027.
Initially, the new track was meant to replace the Jeddah street circuit, which currently hosts Saudi Arabia’s Grand Prix, but it is known that the country would like to host two rounds.
“Saudi Arabia is a very big market and we have a very strong economy,” said the race promoter, Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al-Abdullah Al Faisal, ahead of the 2023 event.
“So the idea of having two races in Saudi is doable. I would not be surprised if Saudi in the near future will host two races.”
Saudi Arabia is one of F1’s biggest investors via the Jeddah sanctioning deal ($55m per year) and state-owned oil company Aramco’s sponsorship ($450m over 10 years) so it exerts a strong influence on decision-making.
The question, then, is where these new venues might fit. A broad consensus exists among the competitors that 24 races is a hard limit since the present calendar includes three triple-headers – a phenomenon roundly despised by all who work in F1, with the possible exception of those who travel by private jet.
Circuits on rotation
Zandvoort’s departure theoretically opens up a space, but Qiddiya – the proverbial first cab off the rank – could not slot directly into that vacancy, given F1’s preference for easing logistics through grouping events by geographical proximity. Since Saudi Arabia already has an event near the beginning of the season, for which the timing of Ramadan is also a consideration, it would be logical for Qiddiya to go in at the end of the season, near Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
If this were to be a triple-header it would be more sensible than the ghastly alignment of Las Vegas-Qatar-Abu Dhabi, which was blamed for an epidemic of sickness among F1 personnel in 2023 and ’24.
Other vacancies would have to arise to accommodate the putative arrival of Thailand and Rwanda. At the moment, the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps is on a ‘rotation’ deal from 2016-2031 in which it will be replaced by another race in 2028 and 2030. Other venues wishing to host grand prix, just not necessarily every year, could follow suit.
Azerbaijan’s deal lasts until 2026 and, though the country has expressed an interest in continuing, any new deal is not likely to be along the lines of Miami, which is contracted until 2041. Barcelona is also contracted until 2026, though that race will now not be known as the Spanish Grand Prix, but there are signs that deep-pocketed organisations want to see it remain – Fernando Alonso’s ambassadorial deal is reputed to extend to several figures. It would also be a prime candidate for a rotational deal, however.
Of the other venues soon to be out of contract, the Circuit of The Americas now turns a profit on its event courtesy of ‘the Netflix effect’ and has invested heavily in resurfacing – not the behaviour of a venue expecting to be leaving any time soon.
Las Vegas, of course, is coming to the end of its initial three-year deal and talk of a 10-year extension has cooled amid disappointing ticket sales, low VIP hospitality take-up, and friction with other local stakeholders. If this unloved event were to be consigned to the memory hole, few who actually work in F1 would be crying themselves to the point of dehydration.
