Imola Axed from 2026 F1 Calendar, Two Races in Spain
Formula One will have two races in Spain next season with Madrid making its debut in September and Italy's Imola dropping off the 24-round calendar, the governing FIA announced on Tuesday.
Melbourne's Australian Grand Prix will again be the season-opener on March 8 with China's Shanghai circuit hosting round two a week later, as the sport enters a new engine era with Cadillac also arriving as an 11th team.
Monaco will be the first European round on June 7 with Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya scheduled the following week.
Madrid's new street circuit will debut as the last race in Europe on September 13, the weekend after the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Imola was out of contract after this year's race and dropped off the list.
The season will end in Abu Dhabi on December 6.
"We are excited to welcome Madrid to the calendar, and to see huge automotive brands like Audi, Cadillac and Ford join the Formula One grid," said Formula One Chief Executive Stefano Domenicali in a statement.
Swiss-based Sauber will become the Audi works team in 2026 while Ford are partnering with Red Bull.
Calendar:
March 8 - Australia, Melbourne
March 15 - China, Shanghai
March 29 - Japan, Suzuka
April 12 - Bahrain, Sakhir
April 19 - Saudi Arabia, Jeddah
May 3 - United States, Miami
May 24 - Canada, Montreal
June 7 - Monaco
June 14 - Spain, Barcelona
June 28 - Austria, Spielberg
July 5 - Britain, Silverstone
July 19 - Belgium, Spa-Francorchamps
July 26 - Hungary, Budapest
August 23 - Netherlands, Zandvoort
September 6 - Italy, Monza
September 13 - Spain, Madrid
September 27 - Azerbaijan, Baku
October 11 - Singapore
October 25 - United States, Austin
November 1 - Mexico, Mexico City
November 8 - Brazil, Sao Paulo
November 21 - United States, Las Vegas
November 29 - Qatar
December 6 - Abu Dhabi
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Asharq Al-Awsat
3 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
NATO Scrambles to Overcome Spain Block on Summit Spending Deal
NATO struggled Friday to overcome a block from Spain on a new defense spending deal that US President Donald Trump has demanded for a summit next week. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Thursday threw a last-minute hand grenade into preparations for the gathering in The Hague by coming out strongly against the agreement, AFP said. In a blistering letter to NATO chief Mark Rutte, Sanchez said that committing to a headline figure of five percent of GDP "would not only be unreasonable, but also counterproductive". The outburst from Madrid's center-left leader has sparked fury from other NATO members who fear it could derail the carefully crafted compromise designed to keep Trump happy at the summit. Ambassadors held a round of negotiations at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Friday, but broke up without a deal being reached. Several diplomats said talks could drag on through the weekend in an effort to reach a breakthrough or the start of the summit on Tuesday. "There is no clarity yet," one diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing deliberations. In a bid to satisfy Trump's demand to spend five percent of GDP on defense, NATO chief Rutte has corralled allies towards a diplomatic trade-off. That would see them agree to coughing up 3.5 percent on core military needs, and 1.5 percent on a looser category of "defense-related" expenditures such as infrastructure and cybersecurity. As a string of reluctant European capitals fell into line, officials believed they were comfortably on track to reach the deal for the Hague summit. Washington's allies fear that Trump -- who has previously threatened not to protect countries he thinks don't spend enough -- could blow a hole in NATO if he doesn't get what he wants. Spain has been one of the lowest spending NATO countries on defense in relative terms. The country is only set to hit the alliance's current target of two percent this year after a 10 billion euro ($11.5 billion) injection. Sanchez is facing a difficult balancing act of aligning with NATO allies and cajoling his junior coalition partner, the far-left alliance Sumar, which is hostile to increasing military spending.
Al Arabiya
21 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
The success of a key NATO summit is in doubt after Spain rejects a big hike in defense spending
The success of a key NATO summit hung in the balance on Friday after Spain announced that it cannot raise the billions of dollars needed to meet a new defense investment pledge demanded by US President Donald Trump. Trump and his NATO counterparts are meeting for two days in the Netherlands starting next Tuesday. He insists that US allies should commit to spending at least 5 percent of gross domestic product, but that requires investment at an unprecedented scale. Trump has cast doubt over whether the US would defend allies that spend too little. Setting the spending goal would be a historic decision. It would see all 32 countries invest the same amount in defense for the first time. Only last week NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte expressed confidence that they would endorse it. But in a letter to Rutte on Thursday, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wrote that committing to a 5 percent target would not only be unreasonable but also counterproductive. 'It would move Spain away from optimal spending and it would hinder the (European Union's) ongoing efforts to strengthen its security and defense ecosystem,' Sánchez wrote in the letter seen by The Associated Press. Spain is not entirely alone. Belgium, Canada, France, and Italy would also struggle to hike security spending by billions of dollars, but Spain is the only country to officially announce its intentions, making it hard to row back from such a public decision. Beyond his economic challenges, Sánchez has other problems. He relies on small parties to govern, and corruption scandals have ensnared his inner circle and family members. He's under growing pressure to call an early election. In response to the letter, Rutte's office said only that 'discussions among allies on a new defense investment plan are ongoing.' NATO's top civilian official had been due to table a new proposal on Friday to try to break the deadlock. The US and French envoys had also been due to update reporters about the latest developments ahead of the summit but postponed their briefings. Rutte and many European allies are desperate to resolve the problem by Tuesday so that Trump does not derail the summit as he did during his first term at NATO headquarters in 2018. After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, NATO allies agreed that 2 percent of GDP should be the minimum they spend on their military budgets. But NATO's new plans for defending its own territory against outside attack require investment of at least 3 percent. Spain agreed to those plans in 2023. The 5 percent goal is made up of two parts. The allies would agree to hike pure defense spending to 3.5 percent of GDP. A further 1.5 percent would go to upgrade roads, bridges, ports, and airfields so that armies can better deploy and to prepare societies for future attacks. Mathematically, 3.5 plus 1.5 equals Trump's 5 percent. But a lot is hiding behind the figures, and details of what kinds of things can be included remain cloudy. Countries closest to Russia–Belarus and Ukraine–have all agreed to the target, as well as nearby Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands, which is hosting the June 24–25 summit. The Netherlands estimates that NATO's defense plans would force it to dedicate at least 3.5 percent to core defense spending. That means finding an additional 16 billion to 19 billion euros (18 billion to 22 billion). Supplying arms and ammunition to Ukraine, which Spain does, will also be included as core defense spending. NATO estimates that the US spent around 3.2 percent of GDP on defense last year. The additional 1.5 percent spending basket is murkier. Rutte and many members argue that infrastructure used to deploy armies to the front must be included, as well as building up defense industries and preparing citizens for possible attacks. 'If a tank is not able to cross a bridge. If our societies are not prepared in case war breaks out for a whole of society approach. If we are not able to really develop the defense industrial base, then the 3.5 percent is great, but you cannot really defend yourselves,' Rutte said this month. Spain wanted climate change spending included, but that proposal was rejected. Cyber-security and counter-hybrid warfare investment should also make the cut. Yet with all the conjecture about what might be included, it's difficult to see how Rutte arrived at this 1.5 percent figure. It's not enough to agree to spend more money. Many allies haven't yet hit the 2 percent target, although most will this year, and they had a decade to get there. So an incentive is required. The date of 2032 has been floated as a deadline. That's far shorter than previous NATO targets, but military planners estimate that Russian forces could be capable of launching an attack on an ally within 5–10 years. The US insists that it cannot be an open-ended pledge and that a decade is too long. Still, Italy says it wants 10 years to hit the 5 percent target. Another issue is how fast spending should be ramped up. 'I have a cunning plan for that,' Rutte said. He wants the allies to submit annual plans that lay out how much they intend to increase spending by. For Europe, Russia's war on Ukraine poses an existential threat. A major rise in sabotage, cyberattacks, and GPS jamming incidents is blamed on Moscow. European leaders are girding their citizens for the possibility of more. The United States also insists that China poses a threat. But for European people to back a hike in national defense spending, their governments require acknowledgment that the Kremlin remains NATO's biggest security challenge. The billions required for security will be raised by taxes, going into debt, or shuffling money from other budgets. But it won't be easy for many, as Spain has shown. On top of that, Trump has made things economically tougher by launching a global tariff war–ostensibly for US national security reasons–something America's allies find hard to fathom.
Arab News
a day ago
- Arab News
Record participation as UAE students compete in annual contest at Yas Island
ABU DHABI: The 15th edition of the ADNOC Yas in Schools National Finals kicked off at Yas Marina Circuit, featuring a record-breaking number of participants from across the country. This year, 1,400 students representing 113 schools and 310 teams are competing in a series of STEM-focused competitions that run until June 22. For the latest updates, follow us @ArabNewsSport The event, a flagship initiative in the UAE's youth and education landscape, aims to foster skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics through hands-on projects and competitive challenges. The finals include contests in F1 in Schools, Formula Ethara, and 4x4 in Schools, which emphasize engineering, design, sustainability, and teamwork. Throughout the week, students will demonstrate their abilities by engineering miniature race cars, developing branding and sponsorship strategies, and presenting their projects to judges. The winners of the F1 in Schools category will represent the UAE at the global finals later this year. Ali Al-Beshr, general manager of Yas Marina Circuit, said: 'This year's finals showcase the ambition, creativity, and skill that define the ADNOC Yas in Schools program. We are proud to support ADNOC's commitment to youth empowerment, sustainability, and STEM development, and to watch the UAE's next generation rise to the challenge.' The competition aligns with national priorities to nurture a knowledge-based economy and promote sustainable innovation. Notably, many participating teams include students from underrepresented groups, with sustainability integrated into their engineering designs and presentations. Since its inception, the program has contributed over 1 million hours of student engagement across more than 1,100 schools nationwide. The event supports ADNOC's corporate social responsibility efforts and aligns with the UAE's broader goals in education, sustainability, and economic development. The winners will be announced during an online awards ceremony scheduled for June 24.
