2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix date changed to avoid clash with day of national mourning

Formula 1 has tweaked its 2026 race schedule, moving the date of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which takes place at the famous Baku City Circuit.

This comes “following a request from the Azerbaijan promoter and relevant government stakeholders.

“Formula 1 and the FIA have agreed to move the 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix from Sunday 27th September to Saturday 26th to accommodate a national day.”

The change, confirmed in a press release from F1, sees the Grand Prix move from its original date of Sunday 27 September to Saturday 26 of the same month, therefore avoiding a clash with Azerbaijan’s Remembrance Day – a national day of mourning for the country over those lost in the 44-day Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in 2020.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Under this new timetable, the race weekend will be structured with each event sliding forward one day.

Wednesday – Media day
Thursday 24 Sept – Practice 1 & 2
Friday 25 Sept –Practice 3 and qualifying
Saturday 26 Sept – Grand Prix

Azerbaijan remains the 17th race of the long 24-race season, and will sit between the inaugural Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid and the famous night race in Singapore. 

As the race in Baku stands alone with no race directly before or after it, it can be assumed that logistics and travel won’t be affected. 

Testing dates unchanged

Alongside this change to the calendar, the championship has locked in the dates for pre-season testing, which will see each team test their new regulation machinery for the first time on track over three events. One of these events consists of a five-day “private test”.

26-30 January – Private test, Barcelona-Catalunya
11-13 February – Test 1, Bahrain
18-20 February – Test 2, Bahrain

This will bring the winter break to an end and allow the teams to dial in their new chassis and power units ahead of the opening round in Australia starting 6 March. This will also be the first time we see the Cadillac F1 team alongside their 20 rivals.