Unique Las Vegas double-header plan ruled out as F1 considers Qatar and Abu Dhabi alternatives

ZANDVOORT – Rumours of a potential double-header race weekend in Las Vegas re-emerged over the Dutch GP weekend, as uncertainty about the final races of the season remains.

With tensions remaining in the Middle East, the uncertainty of the final two races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi has led to speculation about possible alternative approaches to the last quarter of the season.

F1 rules out Las Vegas double-header amid Qatar and Abu Dhabi uncertainty

With the Bahrain Grand Prix rescheduled for October, unusually at the Malaysian venue of Sepang, the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is the only race so far to have fallen off the calendar this season.

However, there are two further Middle Eastern races scheduled for late November and early December, with Qatar’s Losail and Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina set to host the final two races of the year.

But, with ongoing political tensions in the region, which saw the United Arab Emirates confirm last week that Iran had launched two ballistic missiles towards its territory, the viability of hosting these two final races remains in doubt.

Rumours about a potential Las Vegas Grand Prix double-header had emerged earlier this year, with the suggestion re-emerging over the Dutch Grand Prix that the night race in the US city could hold two races in the same weekend.

The proposed schedule would have been for practice, qualifying, and the first Grand Prix to be held across Friday, with a second event of practice, qualifying, and another Grand Prix then taking place on Saturday.

The logic behind this was that, as a venue already built up for the weekend with the necessary infrastructure in place and roads closed down, simply holding another ’round’ of the championship, Formula E-style, could be straightforward when the weekend of November 19-21 rolls around.

With FOM itself being the promoter and organiser, the ease of making the necessary negotiations could be far more straightforward than dealing with an external promoter, while such an event could have presented significant marketing and commercial opportunities given the unique nature of such a scenario.

It’s also understood that Las Vegas GP organisation, led by CEO Emily Prazer, volunteered to FOM to make itself available to help out with an additional round of the championship, if desired, but FOM has opted against trying to pursue the unique scenario.

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But one major hurdle to clear would have been in getting approval at F1 Commission level – the administrative process that would have been needed in order to make the necessary regulatory change to the weekend format at such short notice.

Given the timeline, a supermajority vote would have been needed to make such a weekend happen, and sources across several teams have indicated that support for the proposal would not have been forthcoming.

PlanetF1.com understands that, over the recent Hungarian GP weekend, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali met with the teams to rule out the possibility of such a double-header before the proposal gained further traction or reached the point of being tabled at Commission level.

With the possibility knocked down, the rest of the F1 calendar for 2026 is set to remain as scheduled, with the contingency for a cancellation of the Qatar and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix being a race in Europe, with Domenicali confirming a European finale is the only possibility.

Sources have indicated to PlanetF1.com that the alternative to a Qatar/Abu Dhabi double-header is now fully focused on a weekend at Imola, to be held on the scheduled weekend of the Qatar GP on November 27-29.

The reason for this is to give teams the chance to end the season a little earlier after a long season, whilst also maximising the chances of reasonable weather conditions for a European venue across the coldest months of the year.

It also gives the sport a chance to have a few days respite at home before the FIA and championship winners decamp to Shanghai for the governing body’s general assembly week, which includes the official prizegiving ceremony on December 12.

Officially, the Middle Eastern races remain as scheduled, but Domenicali recently confirmed that the deadline for making a decision on their hosting will be made over the coming weeks.

“That moment will not be before the middle of September. So, for us today, the races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi are confirmed,” he said on a mid-season media call, which included PlanetF1.com.

“By the way, they are already sold out. That is an incredible sign of how much the sport is bigger than the problems that our world is living.

“But of course, if the situation is not cleared the way that we believe it should be before the middle of September, we will take the decision.

“Before, nothing will happen. After, if the situation does not give us the information that we want to have to progress, then we will make a decision and inform where the European race will be hosted.”

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