F1 calendar upheaval

Formula 1 built its 2026 season around 24 race weekends, and then two of them disappeared in one decision. On March 14, the sport said the Bahrain Grand Prix and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix would not take place in April because of the security situation tied to the war in Iran, and it chose not to replace them. (formula1.com) That turned a tightly packed spring into a hole in the calendar. The Japanese Grand Prix ran on March 29, and the next Formula 1 race is now the Miami Grand Prix on May 3, leaving a five-week gap in the middle of a season that normally moves like an airport conveyor belt. (skysports.com) The lost races also shrank the championship. Formula 1 had planned a 24-round calendar for 2026, but dropping Bahrain and Saudi Arabia cuts it to 22 rounds, which means fewer race starts, fewer track sessions, and fewer chances for teams to fix early-season problems under real weekend pressure. (motorsport.com) For the teams, that break is awkward rather than restful. Mechanics and engineers get extra days away from the circuit, but a car that was quick in Japan now has to sit for more than a month before Miami, while a car that was slow has to guess whether factory upgrades will work without the usual weekly feedback loop from race weekends. (espn.com) The junior series took the hit too, because Formula 2 was supposed to race on those same Gulf weekends. On April 9, Formula 2 said the rounds originally scheduled for Bahrain and Saudi Arabia would instead be added to the Miami and Montreal weekends in May and June. (fiaformula2.com) That sounds like a simple shuffle, but it is a genuine first. Miami and Montreal will be the first Formula 2 rounds ever held in North America, which means the series is taking its 55-car freight, garages, and support staff across the Atlantic for events it had not originally planned to service. (reuters.com) Formula 2 also had to rewrite the sporting rhythm of its season. The championship opened in Melbourne, then lost its next two scheduled rounds, and now restarts in Miami with teams and drivers going from one event to a long pause and then into a new continent entirely. (fiaformula2.com) While the cars were parked, one of the paddock’s most important voices changed addresses. Gianpiero Lambiase, the race engineer who has been on Max Verstappen’s radio since Verstappen joined Red Bull in 2016, is leaving Red Bull when his contract expires to become McLaren’s chief racing officer. (espn.com) A race engineer is the person who talks to the driver every lap about tires, strategy, and pace, so this is closer to losing a quarterback’s long-time play caller than swapping out a back-office manager. Lambiase was part of Verstappen’s four straight drivers’ titles from 2021 through 2024, and McLaren is hiring him into a broader leadership role that reaches beyond one car. (nytimes.com) So the strange part of this Formula 1 spring is that almost nothing is happening on track, and a lot is still moving underneath. Two canceled grands prix created empty weekends, sent Formula 2 to Miami and Montreal for the first time, and opened a quiet window for one of the biggest personnel moves in the pit lane to land before the season starts racing again. (formula1.com)