The Baku City Circuit round will run on Saturday, with every other event on the weekend pulled forward by 24 hours. The change was made at the request of Azerbaijan’s promoter and government stakeholders, and confirmed jointly by Formula 1 and the FIA when the 2026 calendar was fine-tuned last year.

Sunday 27 September is Anım Günü, Azerbaijan’s Remembrance Day. The date honours the soldiers killed in the 44-day Nagorno-Karabakh conflict of 2020, and has become an official national day of mourning in the years since.

The new weekend schedule

Every session slides forward one day. First and second practice run on Thursday 24 September, third practice and qualifying follow on Friday 25 September, and the grand prix itself takes place on Saturday 26 September. Media day sits on the Wednesday.

Baku is not on the 2026 F1 Sprint calendar. The six sprint rounds are Shanghai, Miami, Montreal, Silverstone, Zandvoort and Singapore, so the switch has no effect on the sprint format.

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Baku’s first ever Saturday race

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix has always been raced on a Sunday until now. Saturday grand prix races themselves are not unheard of in Formula 1, and have happened as recently as the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Baku’s shift is driven by a different concern: giving Sunday over to the country’s day of mourning.

The switch has no knock-on effect on the wider calendar. Baku is the 17th round of a 24-race 2026 season, positioned between the inaugural Madrid Grand Prix and the Singapore night race. With no back-to-back weekend on either side, the rescheduling stays contained to the Baku round itself.

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