The 2026 Formula 1 season enters its final stretch with 14 of the scheduled 23 rounds complete following last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. Kimi Antonelli claimed victory in Madrid on Sunday, closing out the European leg of the calendar before the series heads to Azerbaijan and a run of Asian and American flyaway races.
Why the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix moves to Saturday
The 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix will run on Saturday, 26 September — one week later than its 2025 slot — despite an original Sunday, 27 September date on the provisional calendar. A schedule revision announced in June 2025 shifted the event forward following a request from the Azerbaijan promoter and relevant government stakeholders
, according to an official Formula 1 statement at the time.
The change accommodates Azerbaijan Remembrance Day, observed annually on 27 September. The national day of mourning honours military personnel and civilians who died during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, known domestically as The Patriotic War. The conflict erupted on 27 September 2020 in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region and lasted 44 days, ending in an Azerbaijani victory and triggering anti-government protests in Armenia. Official figures cite 2,783 Azerbaijani soldiers killed.
With Remembrance Day falling on Sunday, 27 September 2026, the entire Grand Prix weekend moves forward by 24 hours:
- Media day: Wednesday
- Free Practice 1 & 2: Thursday
- Free Practice 3 & Qualifying: Friday
- Grand Prix (51 laps): Saturday
How common are Saturday Formula 1 races?
While Sunday has long been the standard race day, Formula 1 has contested grands prix on every day of the week. The very first World Championship race — the 1950 British Grand Prix at Silverstone — took place on a Saturday, and the British round remained a Saturday fixture until 1975.
The Indianapolis 500, which counted toward the F1 championship from 1950 to 1960, traditionally ran on 30 May (moving to Monday when 30 May fell on a Sunday). After 1985, however, Saturday races vanished from the calendar until Las Vegas returned in 2023. Since its revival, the Las Vegas Grand Prix has been held on Saturday each year.
More recently, the 2024 Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix also ran on Saturdays to avoid a clash with the start of Ramadan.
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
