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Azerbaijan’s Remembrance Day was instituted in December 2020 to mark the outbreak on 27 September that year of the second Nagorno-Karabakh war. By F1’s 2026 standards, having a race weekend Thursday-Saturday is fairly small political potatoes.
The Middle East war led to the cancellation of the Saudi Arabian race and the rescheduling and displacement of the Bahrain GP, now taking place on Sunday 4 October in Malaysia. Now, the escalating conflict continues to threaten the climax to the season, scheduled for Qatar and Abu Dhabi but with Imola on standby should those races be postponed.
“I personally want to go. I love going to the Middle East,” he said. “From what I have read, things seem OK out there, but I don’t have all the information and I don’t know what the risk levels are. I trust in Stefano [Domenicali, F1’s chief executive] to make the right decision for the sport. And I do hope we get to go there.”
