As Barcelona fights for its F1 race, how is the 2026 calendar shaping up?

Barcelona could have misplaced the Spanish Grand Prix, however it’s nonetheless bullish on its possibilities to maintain Components 1.

Final weekend’s race was the ultimate Spanish Grand Prix held on the Montmelo venue outdoors the Catalan capital, with that moniker shifting to the under-construction Madring in Madrid in 2026, with two Spanish races on subsequent yr’s calendar as Barcelona completes the ultimate yr of its present contract.

With it being unlikely for Spain to maintain each its F1 races on a yearly foundation, Barcelona is predicted to comply with Imola out the door after 2026 – though F1’s rotational system for choose European slots, which already consists of Belgium, could but hand it a lifeline in future years.

A Catalan delegation was on the bottom in Imola earlier in Could for discussions with FOM, and talking to Motorsport.com in Montmelo over the weekend, organisers had been assured that Madrid’s arrival does not need to spell the top for Barcelona.

“[Madrid] will not be an issue for us in any respect,” stated Ignasi Armengol, director of the Fira Circuit firm that runs the circuit from this yr onwards. “Quite the opposite, the [Madrid organisers] had been right here to see our amenities, there’s a very cordial relationship, as with the remainder of the circuits. In that sense, we don’t see it as an issue. Now we have different circuits at related distances.”

There’s a feeling that Barcelona has successfully opened the door to F1’s Madrid undertaking by not exhibiting sufficient urgency to resolve a few of the race’s long-standing points concerning logistics and infrastructure. And whereas the occasion has most actually improved, it might already be too late, as amongst different initiatives its long-promised practice station proper subsequent to the circuit entrance remains to be an concept on paper reasonably than brick and mortar.

“The reality is that the connection with FOM is superb,” Armengol insisted. “We all know one another very properly and due to this fact the dialogue is fluid and really constructive. Yr after yr we’re together with, adjusting and fine-tuning issues that FOM asks us and that we’re capable of remedy, together with the distribution of area within the paddock, the automotive park, and entry.

“There isn’t a urgency to signal a brand new deal. As we have now seen from circuits, it’s usually completed three or 4 months earlier than the final race within the contract, and due to this fact we have now an entire yr forward of us. We’re optimistic of a very good decision.”

These negotiations happen on the degree of the federal government, which picks up the invoice – however whereas indirectly concerned, Armengol stated the target was nonetheless to organise a yearly grand prix. “For us we have now at all times completed it repeatedly and due to this fact that’s our hope,” he stated. “I feel we’re nonetheless working with this concept in these negotiations.”

As for the identify of 2026’s occasion, Armengol stated a choice could be made “within the brief time period”. However given the race is backed by the native authorities it will not be too far-fetched to assume it might carry over the Catalan Grand Prix title used for the circuit’s MotoGP race.

Subsequent yr’s calendar takes form

In the meantime, F1 is nearing the finalisation of its 2026 calendar, which is able to as soon as once more kick off in Melbourne in early March, as has been recognized for a while. As was the case this yr, the Center Japanese leg of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia will probably be moved again as a result of Islamic vacation of Ramadan, shifting these races to April slots behind China and Japan as soon as extra.

One of many few anticipated adjustments over the primary half of the season is Imola’s disappearance and Canada’s transfer from its present mid-June date to the second half of Could. That may logistically make it simpler to hyperlink up with Miami, though it’s understood Miami and Canada is not going to really be run back-to-back. To create room for Montreal, Monaco strikes to early June from its conventional end-of-Could date.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Max Verstappen, Purple Bull Racing

Photograph by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Photographs by way of Getty Photographs

The second half of the season is not anticipated to see main adjustments aside from the addition of Imola’s substitute of Madrid on the finish of September, with development work presently below method to get the so-called Madring close to the Barajas airport accomplished in time.

In the meantime, Thailand stays probably the most reasonable mid-term possibility to hitch the calendar in 2028 or past, with the native authorities and Purple Bull Thailand engaged on a proposed semi-permanent circuit on the outskirts of Bangkok. The ball is within the authorities’s courtroom to place ahead a compelling proposal, after its prime minister met with F1 chief Stefano Domenicali in April.