{"id":1282,"date":"2026-08-27T10:55:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T13:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/?p=1282"},"modified":"2026-08-27T10:55:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T13:55:26","slug":"italian-federation-points-to-imola-as-ideal-solution-to-host-2026-f1-season-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/italian-federation-points-to-imola-as-ideal-solution-to-host-2026-f1-season-finale\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian federation points to Imola as \u201cideal solution\u201d to host 2026 F1 season finale"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Key takeaways<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Backup finale candidate:<\/strong> <strong>Italian federation head Geronimo La Russa positioned Imola as the &#8220;ideal solution&#8221;<\/strong> to host a late-season F1 race if Middle Eastern rounds are altered.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Geopolitical rescheduling:<\/strong> Escalating Middle East tensions previously caused the <strong>postponement of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian GPs<\/strong>, with Qatar and Abu Dhabi now under observation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>September deadline:<\/strong> F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali indicated <strong>a final decision on the season-ending schedule will be made by late September<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Geronimo La Russa<\/strong>, president of the Automobile Club d&#8217;Italia (ACI), declared the <strong>Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola<\/strong> as the &#8220;ideal solution&#8221; to host the season finale for the <strong>2026 Formula 1 World Championship<\/strong> should schedule changes force the cancellation of late-season events in the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Geopolitical tensions led to the postponement of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix events earlier in the year. While the Bahrain round was rescheduled to <strong>Sepang, Malaysia<\/strong> for October 2\u20134, ongoing regional uncertainty has placed the <strong>Qatar<\/strong> and <strong>Abu Dhabi<\/strong> rounds\u2014scheduled for late November and early December\u2014under monitoring by Formula 1 management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Max-Verstappen-takes-the-lead-of-the-2025-F1-Emilia-Romagna-Grnad-Prix-from-Oscar-Piastei-at-Imola-1024x576.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1010395052\" srcset=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Max-Verstappen-takes-the-lead-of-the-2025-F1-Emilia-Romagna-Grnad-Prix-from-Oscar-Piastei-at-Imola-1024x576.webp 1024w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Max-Verstappen-takes-the-lead-of-the-2025-F1-Emilia-Romagna-Grnad-Prix-from-Oscar-Piastei-at-Imola-300x169.webp 300w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Max-Verstappen-takes-the-lead-of-the-2025-F1-Emilia-Romagna-Grnad-Prix-from-Oscar-Piastei-at-Imola-768x432.webp 768w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Max-Verstappen-takes-the-lead-of-the-2025-F1-Emilia-Romagna-Grnad-Prix-from-Oscar-Piastei-at-Imola-150x84.webp 150w, https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Max-Verstappen-takes-the-lead-of-the-2025-F1-Emilia-Romagna-Grnad-Prix-from-Oscar-Piastei-at-Imola.webp 1260w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Imola is under consideration as a potential venue for the 2026 F1 season finale (Photo: Reproduction)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking at an industry event in Italy, La Russa confirmed proactive preparations alongside government agencies:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;<strong>Given the complicated international situation in the Middle East, we are working alongside the government and sporting bodies to ensure we are prepared to organize a second F1 race in our country, potentially just a few months from now during the current season,<\/strong>&#8221; La Russa stated. &#8220;<strong>Imola is the ideal solution to host another round of the championship.<\/strong>&#8220;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Formula 1 CEO <strong>Stefano Domenicali<\/strong> previously noted during the Hungarian GP weekend that the series aims to finalize its calendar adjustments by the end of September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Formula 1 returns from <strong>September 4\u20136<\/strong> at Monza for the <strong>Italian Grand Prix<\/strong>, the 13th round of the 2026 season. <strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/\">GRANDE PR\u00caMIO<\/a><\/strong> provides complete live coverage of all track action. Follow all updates on our <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/news\/\">news page<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">World Championship Standings (Top 5 after Dutch GP)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><td><strong>Pos<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Driver<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Team<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Engine<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Points<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>1<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Andrea Kimi Antonelli<\/strong><\/td><td>Mercedes<\/td><td>Mercedes<\/td><td><strong>242<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>2<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>George Russell<\/strong><\/td><td>Mercedes<\/td><td>Mercedes<\/td><td><strong>183<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>3<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Lewis Hamilton<\/strong><\/td><td>Ferrari<\/td><td>Ferrari<\/td><td><strong>183<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>4<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Lando Norris<\/strong><\/td><td>McLaren<\/td><td>Mercedes<\/td><td><strong>159<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>5<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Charles Leclerc<\/strong><\/td><td>Ferrari<\/td><td>Ferrari<\/td><td><strong>155<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Frequently asked questions (FAQ)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>1. Why is Imola being considered to host a late-season 2026 F1 race?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Imola is being prepared as a alternative venue in case ongoing geopolitical tensions force the cancellation of scheduled late-season races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>2. Where was the postponed 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix relocated?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The postponed Bahrain GP was rescheduled to take place at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia from October 2\u20134, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>3. When will F1 decide on the final 2026 race calendar schedule?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali confirmed that the series expects to finalize any late-season schedule adjustments by the end of September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ACI President Geronimo La Russa confirmed work with local government authorities to prepare Imola as a candidate venue should Middle East races be replaced.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1010327661,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"42wp_featured_image_caption":"Imola is under consideration as a potential venue for the 2026 F1 season finale","42wp_featured_image_credits":"F1","42wp_featured_video":"","42wp_featured_image_hidden":false,"42wp_authors_list":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,128],"42wp_author":[58],"class_list":["post-1282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1","tag-f1","tag-imola","42wp_author-vicente-soella"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1282"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1283,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1282\/revisions\/1283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1010327661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1282"},{"taxonomy":"42wp_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/42wp_author?post=1282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}