Why 2026 F1 Azerbaijan Grand prix has been rescheduled to Saturday. Formula 1 has announced that the 2026 Azerbaijan GP in Baku will be held on Saturday .

Formula 1 has announced that next year’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku will take place on Saturday to avoid conflict with a national holiday in Azerbaijan. The winter testing dates have also been confirmed: testing will start in Barcelona at the end of January with private sessions, followed by the traditional two three-day tests in Bahrain.

Formula 1 finalized the 2026 season calendar this morning, revealing the winter testing schedule that will see the debut of the new generation cars, alongside a change to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend format.

The change for Baku is that, for the first time, the race will be held on a Saturday. Due to a clash with a national holiday in Azerbaijan, the promoter, Formula 1, and the FIA agreed to move the weekend schedule forward by one day.

This means free practice sessions will be held on Thursday, qualifying on Friday, and the race will take place on Saturday, September 26. The reason is straightforward: since 2020, September 27 is a commemorative day called “Anım Günü,” honoring soldiers who lost their lives during the recent Nagorno-Karabakh war.

This is not a complete novelty for Formula 1, as the Las Vegas GP already takes place on a Saturday evening (which is Sunday morning in Europe). Additionally, last year, due to overlapping dates with Ramadan, both the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix were held on Saturdays.

Winter testing dates announced
With the introduction of cars based on the new regulations, the number of winter testing days has been increased again. As was tradition until a few years ago, testing will begin in Barcelona, where teams will have five days of private testing available between January 26 and 30.

However, teams may only select three of those days to use, a measure designed to reduce the risk of losing time due to bad weather, which could be a factor at the end of January. This allows teams to choose only the days with the best weather conditions.

The preseason will then continue, as in recent years, with two three-day test sessions in Bahrain: the first from February 11 to 13, followed by a break, and then from February 18 to 20.