Why the Azerbaijan Grand Prix Will Be Held on a Saturday

The 2026 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku is set to take place on Saturday, September 26th. This schedule change is due to a national day of remembrance in the country.

The 2026 Formula 1 season is nearing its conclusion, with 14 of the planned 23 rounds already completed following last weekend's Spanish Grand Prix. Andrea Kimi Antonelli crossed the finish line first in Madrid on Sunday, marking the end of the European leg of the calendar. The next stop is Azerbaijan, before a series of races across Asia and America.

The 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix will be held on Saturday, September 26th, a week later than its 2025 date, despite initially being scheduled for Sunday, September 27th. This alteration was made in June of last year "at the request of the Azerbaijani promoter and relevant state institutions," as stated in a Formula 1 announcement at the time.

The reason for this change is that September 27th is observed annually as Remembrance Day in Azerbaijan, a day of national mourning. The people of Azerbaijan honor the memory of servicemen and those who died during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, also known as the Patriotic War.

This is a relatively recent day of remembrance, as the war erupted on September 27, 2020, in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The conflict lasted 44 days and concluded with a victory for Azerbaijan, leading to anti-government protests in Armenia.

According to the Azerbaijani government, 2,783 of its soldiers died during the conflict. Consequently, with Remembrance Day falling on Sunday, September 27th, the entire Formula 1 race weekend will be moved forward by one day. This means media day will be on Wednesday, the first and second free practice sessions on Thursday, the third practice and qualifying on Friday, and the 51-lap Grand Prix itself on Saturday.