F1 has now lost one of its three options for its end of season contingency plan, with its European option being stood down.

With tensions in the Middle East still high and the US thought to be preparing for more attacks on Iran, the final two races of the season - in Qatar and Abu Dhabi - are still in doubt.

However, what’s certain now is that F1 won’t finish its 2026 season in Europe.

F1 turns away from European option for its 2026 season finale

The run-in for the 2026 F1 season has long looked in doubt since conflict erupted in the region this year.

The Bahrain and Saudi Arabian GPs saw their races cancelled when the US attacked Iran towards the end of February.

In addition to that, rebel Houthi forces in the Yemen have since attacked Saudi Arabian airports, saying they would shoot at flights travelling through the region - one of the main destinations through there being countries such as Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

While Bahrain saw its race rescheduled in Malaysia, the Saudi race was cancelled altogether. Since then the Qatar and Abu Dhabi events have hung in the balance.

As a result, F1 has been forced to look elsewhere just in case. After the first option of running the calendar as it was with the two Middle East races, one other was to finish the season at what was supposed to be the third-to-last race of 2026, Las Vegas.

The third option was to run either one or two of the Middle East races, and finish the championship at Italy’s Imola circuit.

Considered one of F1’s classic tracks through the ‘80s and ‘90s, the venue was dropped last year after a brief return to the calendar.

The world championship was prepared to foot the bill of putting a race on there, thought to be around $10m-$15m according to The Race’s Jonathan Noble.

Now though, F1 has told Imola to stop preparations for a possible race, being confident enough that the Middle East events will go ahead.

"We cannot let Imola wait indefinitely,” an F1 statement said. “Therefore we have informed them today that we will not require them at the end of the season."

What happens next in the F1 2026 season?

Although F1 has told Imola to stand down from its preparations for holding a race, that doesn’t mean the Middle East events will definitely go ahead.

As things stand the championship will end there, but the world championship is prepared to cancel at any moment should the risk be deemed too great.

Last week the MotoGP series, F1’s motorcycle equivalent and also owned by Liberty, the same company as the single-seater series, raced in Qatar, despite many raiders being uncomfortable with travelling.