F1 builds 2027 backup plan amid Middle East risk

Formula 1 is already drawing up fallback calendars for 2027 as continued uncertainty in the Middle East reshapes the championship’s plans, with CEO Stefano Domenicali saying the series has “different plans with different ready-to-use options” to protect a 24-race season.

The scale of the disruption is already visible in 2026. Bahrain and Saudi Arabia were forced off their original dates, Bahrain has been restored to an early October slot but will be staged at Sepang in Malaysia, around 6,000 kilometers from Bahrain, and Domenicali has confirmed that if Qatar and Abu Dhabi cannot host the final two rounds, the season will finish in Europe.

That leaves F1 trying to build next year’s calendar around uncertainty that may not be resolved by the time the schedule is published. Domenicali said there is no official 2027 calendar yet, although Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are likely to return to their usual spring window. The initial version, he said, will be “a kind of normal plan,” with alternatives ready if the regional situation still has not improved.

Domenicali said F1 is waiting until mid-September on Qatar and Abu Dhabi, roughly two and a half months before their planned race dates, before any final call. “The trigger lies at the end of the year,” he said, framing the next few months as the key decision point in whether the championship can stick to its preferred structure.

The problem for F1 is that its most obvious fallback is not straightforward. Former Haas team boss Guenther Steiner, speaking on the Red Flags podcast, said ending the season in Europe would be a “risk” because the calendar would be pushing into late autumn and winter. “In Europe, in November and December time, there’s no point to race,” Steiner said. “The risk of the weather is too high.”

Steiner also argued that any replacement venue must work commercially as well as logistically. Teams cannot afford to be sent somewhere they are “just losing money,” he said, because “it’s a business” and there needs to be income attached to any late addition.

That is why Malaysia matters beyond solving Bahrain’s immediate problem. Steiner said the move helped ensure F1 still has “at least over 20 races,” but he doubted the championship would easily find another viable stop if more Middle East events fall away late in the year. Domenicali may still be targeting 24 races for 2027, but Steiner’s view points to the harder reality: if Qatar and Abu Dhabi also become uncertain, keeping the calendar near F1’s preferred size could be much tougher than simply naming Europe as the backup.