The races that never happened: F1's cancelled grands prix

The 1983 Swiss Grand Prix was set to be a second French race, held in Dijon as it had been in 1982. But this time French television didn’t fancy covering two races within a year.

Now, the total abandonment of F1 race weekends has become a rarer sight, thanks to financially stable promoters and more reliable logistics. But every so often, the carefully choreographed F1 circus can be sent awry by natural phenomena or geopolitics.

Here are some of the memorable Formula 1 races that, in the event, never were.

1957 Belgian and Dutch Grands Prix

As if to demonstrate that in F1, like anything, everything is connected to everything else, this one can be traced to the Suez Crisis. That brought petrol rationing and economic difficulties, and two scheduled 1957 world championship races, Belgium’s at Spa-Francorchamps and the Netherlands’ at Zandvoort, therefore asked teams to accept lower starting money.

The teams didn’t care for this request and both races were cancelled at the 11th hour amid rancour. Yet the cloud had a silver lining as F1’s governing body looked at its now thin six-round (not including the anomalous Indianapolis 500) calendar and, to fill it out, scanned for willing new hosts. It found one in Pescara, where locals were keen to rekindle traditions

The Adriatic town in Italy had hosted races going back to 1924 and its circuit, winding through mountains and villages next to the town, even then had a throwback air. “The whole thing is pure unadulterated ROAD RACING,” enthused Denis Jenkinson for Motor Sport.

It was the first time a championship calendar had two races in a single country, plus 16-mile Pescara forever deprived the Nürburgring Nordschleife of the title of the championship’s longest circuit.

1969 Belgian Grand Prix

Spa routinely tops modern-day popularity polls, but once upon a time it was infinitely more fearsome. Yet by the late 1960s safety was in the sights of the increasingly-active Grand Prix Drivers’ Association. Jackie Stewart demanded changes at Spa for the ’69 race.

They never arrived. Officials cited short notice. Factional Belgian motor racing politics perhaps contributed to the impasse. No doubt circuit owners, long possessing the whip hand, underestimated the drivers’ resolve. But the GPDA withdrew the drivers’ labour, so the race was off.

And Jenks wasn’t happy, suggesting in Motor Sport that “our so-called grand prix drivers take up knitting, using special needles without sharp points”. The track returned in 1970 with a chicane, but that was F1’s final visit to ‘old’ Spa.

It wasn’t the end of the sniping though, as in ‘72 Jenks spoke of “a certain beady-eyed little Scot,” whose “pious whinings have brain-washed and undermined the natural instincts of some young and inexperienced newcomers to grand prix racing and removed the Belgian Grand Prix from Spa-Francorchamps.”

Stewart’s view prevailed of course. As he mused elsewhere, “safety didn’t come easy”.

1983-85 New York Grand Prix

The attraction to F1 of holding races in the USA is obvious. And for reasons that are about as obvious a New York City race is considered the ultimate. F1 historically though has a patchy record of making stateside races a success, and in something like doleful synchrony none of the various mooted New York Grands Prix have become reality. Yet for three years in a row, from 1983 to ’85, one got so far as the F1 calendar.

Bernie Ecclestone and local organisers in late ‘82 unveiled plans for a race on September 25 the following year. The project’s head promised “the beauty and charm associated with Monte Carlo” but with a “definite New York atmosphere”. Flushing Meadows park – best known for tennis’s US Open – was picked as venue.

But come June ’83 the plan was shelved, at least for 12 months, after environmental protests, legal threats and struggles for sponsor and television commitments. There was a further set-back in ‘84 when a CART race at nearby Meadowlands was not a great success. Ecclestone persevered for the next couple of years, then the idea was dropped. At least until the next wheeze for a New York Grand Prix came along…

1985 Belgian Grand Prix

This one is unique, as the only championship race that was canned altogether after the weekend got underway. Although technically it was postponed, albeit for months.

All arrived for Spa’s early-June Belgian Grand Prix meeting to be told there was a new track surface intended to promote grip in the wet – a frequent local feature. “What they didn’t tell us,” Jenks observed, “was that they had only finished the resurfacing a bare 14 days before practice was due to begin.”

Parts of the track indeed broke up during Friday running but drivers were happy to avoid the worst patches. The real trouble hit after overnight ‘repairs’. Saturday morning practice was quickly stopped with cars lapping 25 seconds off Friday’s pace.

At the trouble spots, contractors had resurfaced the full width of the road plus resurfaced other corners that didn’t need doing. “There wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of the new tarmac having set properly,” Jenks concluded.

Following typical toing and froing, come Saturday evening FISA called the race off. The organisers were fined and the meeting was held instead in September.

2011 Bahrain Grand Prix

We often are told that sport and politics should not mix. But it’s hard to sustain in this world, particularly where races are run and bankrolled by government to promote the country.

So it is with Bahrain. Its grand prix was supposed to open the 2011 season on March 13. But in the middle of the previous month anti-government protests and uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East, known collectively as the Arab Spring, reached the country.

Several protesters were killed and paramedics reportedly were prevented from reaching the injured. Nabeel Rajab, vice-president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, made it clear protesters would seek to exploit the F1 event’s international glare.

Following a week of unrest, and usual F1 procrastination, crown prince of Bahrain, Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, confirmed the inevitable that the race was off.

There was talk of it being rescheduled for later in the season, but a crowded itinerary and reluctant teams meant F1 didn’t return until the following year. Which was an event that had a few problems of its own.

2020 Australian Grand Prix

The Covid pandemic was still developing as F1 arrived in Melbourne for the start of the 2020 campaign. The Chinese Grand Prix had already been cancelled, but F1 was determined to press on as normal, with minimal restrictions: a decision that Lewis Hamilton described as “shocking”, adding: “Cash is king”.

Then came the inevitable: a positive test in the McLaren garage, and several other paddock members self-isolating with symptoms. The news came late in the day on the Thursday before practice and a meeting of all teams was called that went into the early hours.

As the meeting ended, an announcement was expected from F1, but none came, despite multiple reliable leaks that the race would be cancelled. By next morning, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen were already on a plane out of there and Renault hadn’t headed to the track. Without official confirmation, however, spectators began queuing at the gates,

Finally, the statement was issued to frustrated fans and teams began to pack up as F1 began an almost four-month hiatus. Among the many other cancellations was the debut Vietnamese Grand Prix: the Hanoi circuit remains unraced.

2021 Belgian Grand Prix 

While this wasn’t officially a cancelled race, it should have been. After a three hour wait in the pitlane and with torrential rain continuing to pour, F1 cars finally made their way out on track behind the safety car for the start of the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix. But whilst the thousands of fans in attendance paid to see an action-packed 44-lap race, they instead got a two-lap parade ended by a red flag, with Max Verstappen declared the winner and awarded half points.

Uproar soon followed, contesting the treatment of the fans (who were not given any refund on their ticket despite the reduced action), the decision to reward half-points, and the delayed start time. It would lead to a change in the rules to ensure that actual racing would have to take place before points were to be awarded, on a new scale to ensure that the points reflected the race distance completed.

2023 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

The 2023 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was called off after extensive rainfall and tragic flooding in the region that has forced many people to evacuate their homes. The Imola circuit itself has also been flooded, with pictures showing television tents and parts of the paddock under water.

An announcement was given ahead of the race weekend, stating that the race would be cancelled whilst emergency services focused on helping the 37 affected neighbourhoods.

2026 Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix

F1 is no stranger to international turmoil: during the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend, the smoke and fire from an attack on a nearby oil depot was visible from the circuit.

But the Middle East turmoil caused by the US and Israel’s Operation Epic Fury against Iran made it almost inevitable that the 2026 calendar would be disrupted.

As soon as the bombs started falling, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain came under retaliatory attack from Iran. Bahrain reported that a civilian was killed when a residential building was hit in the capital Manama; oil depots were targeted, as were US bases, with Iran taking particular aim at Western targets.

The prospect of F1’s US-based owners hosting a race amid the turmoil was unthinkable, even if it had been logistically possible given the multiple cancelled international flights.