The Azerbaijan Grand Prix has been moved back one day for the 2026 season after the event's organisers lodged a special request to accommodate a national day. This means that the race will be shifted from a Sunday to a Saturday. F1 released their calendar for the first year of the new regulations earlier this month, with Azerbaijan's mainstay street race sandwiched between the debut of Madrid's circuit and the fan-favourite United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas.

Those planning the logistics for 2026 will have to make a tweak, though. The Azerbaijan GP weekend will start on Wednesday, September 24, with FP1 and FP2 moved to Thursday, FP3 and qualifying shifted to Friday and the race taking place on Sunday. This is due to a "request from the Azerbaijan promoter and relevant government stakeholders".

F1 also dropped some more calendar news with the Azerbaijan GP schedule change on Monday. Pre-season testing dates for the 2026 campaign have been revealed with a revamped system introduced for the first year of the new regulations.

Between 26 January and 30 January, a private test will take place at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, giving the 11 teams a chance to see their new machinery and power units in action on the track for the first time.

Then, a three-day test will take place at the Bahrain International Circuit between 11 February and 13 February. This will be succeeded the following week by another test at the same location, wrapping up pre-season testing for 2026.

The extra testing time will be a relief to all teams, none more so than Cadillac, who are joining the grid for the first time in 2026. The American organisation are yet to reveal their driver line-up, but have been linked with the likes of Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez, Felipe Drugovich and Colton Herta.

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"We'll select drivers on merit," team principal Graeme Lowdon told Motorsport.com. "Having a driver on merit doesn't mean you can't have an American passport as well. We've got a lot to choose from. But also, you can't just judge an F1 team on what they're doing this year or next year. The team's here to stay. I think the fans would love to see an American driver in an American team.

"There's nothing stopping that from happening, but we've just got to go ahead and select on merit and build a team, because there are a few very experienced drivers available. We weren't able to participate in the last round of driver negotiations, so we're out of sync with a lot of other teams. But there's some advantages to that as well. There's a lot of very good drivers available at the minute. As and when we put the driver lineup together, whatever it is, it'll be a strong one."