Imola axed from 2026 F1 calendar
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen celebrates after winning the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Imola last month. (AP pic)
IMOLA: Formula One will have two races in Spain next season with Madrid's new street circuit making its debut in September and Italy's Imola dropping off the 24-round calendar, F1 and 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 2 a week later, as the sport enters a new engine era with Cadillac also arriving as an 11th team.
Japan will be Round 3 as a standalone event on March 29.
Monaco will be the first European round on June 7, swapping dates with Canada, whose race in Montreal moves to May 24 and follows Miami on May 3.
Canada, which clashes with the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race this year, is now set to overlap instead with the Indianapolis 500.
Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, which is entering the final year of its current contract and will no longer be designated the Spanish Grand Prix, is scheduled for June 14.
Madrid's Madring, a part-street layout around the city's IFEMA exhibition centre, will be the last race in Europe on Sept 13 and the weekend after the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
The Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, due to drop off the calendar after 2026, will be held on Aug 23 as a sprint weekend.
The season will end in Abu Dhabi on Dec 6, immediately after Qatar.
'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. Formula One will also have 100% sustainable fuel.
Bahrain and Saudi Arabia will again be held on successive weekends in April due to Ramadan taking place in February and March.
The calendar has been organised to create more of a geographical flow, which Formula One said would deliver significant freight efficiencies and help the sport's sustainability push.
There will be a total of six back-to-back race weekends, with two triple headers of three in a row starting with Austin, Mexico and Brazil and ending with Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
The FIA did not detail the sprint events, other than Zandvoort which has already been confirmed.
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