F1 issue official statement as race MOVED in late calendar decision

A late update has been made to the 2026 F1 calendar, weeks after the full schedule was released.

The update comes as the sport have announced that there will be a whopping 11 days of testing ahead of the 2026 season, to allow teams to accommodate for sweeping regulation changes that are coming into effect next year.

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Barcelona's Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is going to host five days in January 2026, before two three-day spells at Bahrain in February 2026, ahead of the season beginning on March 6 in Australia.

It means that official 2026 running is going to take place just seven weeks after the end of the mammoth 2025 season, which sees 24 races taking place across 21 countries.

One of those countries is Azerbaijan, who have hosted an F1 race around the streets of Baku since 2016.

In an official statement confirming the testing schedule for 2026, F1 have also revealed that the Azerbaijan GP has been moved back from Sunday, September 27 to Saturday, September 26, meaning there will be a Saturday main race in 2026.

The reason for the change has been to accommodate a national holiday, and it means that practice will take place on the Thursday, and qualifying on the Friday.

When will 2026 pre-season testing be?

The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya - which may not be on the F1 calendar beyond the end of its current contract which ends in 2026 - will host five days of testing between January 26-30.

Bahrain's first three-day testing schedule will take place between February 11-13, before another three days at the circuit between February 18-20.

2026 will once again be the joint-longest F1 season in history, with 24 races making up the calendar, and just a seven-week winter break will exacerbate concerns that drivers have had about the amount of travel and driving they have to do each season.

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