Azerbaijan Grand Prix moved to Saturday for Remembrance Day

The 2026 Azerbaijan Grand Prix will be held on Saturday, September 26, rather than the usual Sunday, after promoters and government stakeholders requested the change to avoid clashing with Azerbaijan's Remembrance Day on September 27. Formula 1 agreed to the move, shifting the Baku City Circuit weekend 24 hours earlier, with practice on Thursday, September 24, and qualifying on Friday, September 25. Remembrance Day was decreed in December 2020, weeks after a ceasefire agreement in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, and commemorates approximately 2,900 Azerbaijani soldiers killed in the conflict, which began on September 27 that year. The race opens an Azerbaijan-Malaysia-Singapore triple header created by the relocation of the Bahrain Grand Prix to Malaysia. The three rounds offer 83 points, including eight from the Singapore Sprint, the season's sixth and final Sprint weekend, which makes its first appearance at Marina Bay. Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli arrives in Baku leading the Drivers Championship by 81 points after his eighth win in 14 races this season, a victory in Madrid.