Abu Dhabi is happening: F1 confirms the season finale stays in the Gulf

It was never supposed to need confirming. But after a year in which F1 cancelled two Gulf races and quietly explored a European fallback for its finale, "the calendar is confirmed" were the words the paddock had been waiting for.

Speaking at Zandvoort, F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali ended weeks of speculation: the 2026 season will close exactly where it was always scheduled to — Abu Dhabi, on December 6, with Qatar's round at Lusail a week earlier on November 29.

"The calendar is confirmed. There are still a few tickets to be sold in Abu Dhabi … and we stay focused on delivering the calendar we promised at the beginning of the year. Everything is progressing very, very well."

Why there was ever any doubt

The doubts were never about Yas Marina. They were about the region. With the Iran war escalating through the spring, F1 called off its Bahrain and Saudi Arabian rounds in March — Bahrain has since been rescheduled for October 4, and will be staged at Sepang in Malaysia rather than Sakhir. In July, Domenicali himself floated Imola as a potential stand-in finale if the Gulf swing couldn't happen.

That made this weekend's confirmation more than routine. Abu Dhabi's promoter Ethara — named F1's Promoter of the Year on the back of a record crowd of more than 339,000 in 2025 — has insisted preparations never stopped, and tickets, per The National, are now nearly sold out. "As promoter of the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, our focus is firmly on delivering another outstanding season finale this December," said Ethara CEO Saif Rashid Al Noaimi.

What's on: the racing

The Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix runs December 3–6 at Yas Marina Circuit — round 24 of a 24-race season, and the first finale of the new technical regulations. The MGU-H is gone, electrical output has roughly tripled, the cars are lighter and shorter, and Cadillac makes its debut on an 11-team grid. Whoever wins under the floodlights on Sunday night becomes the first champion of that era — and Yas Marina, which has settled title fights in 2010, 2014, 2016 and 2021, is a fitting place to decide it.

The support bill is headlined by Formula 2's season finale (December 4–6), with the 2026 F2 champion crowned on the same bill. Worth noting what won't be there: F3's campaign ends in Madrid this year, and F1 Academy wraps up at Las Vegas on November 21 — so Yas Marina's undercard will lean on F2 plus whatever Ethara adds closer to the event.

The concerts: Yasalam is back

Abu Dhabi is the one race where the after-show is a headline act in its own right. The Yasalam After-Race Concerts run all four nights at Etihad Park — the 30,000-capacity open-air venue about 400 metres from the start-finish line — and they're included with every Grand Prix ticket.

The confirmed lineup so far:

• Thursday, December 3 (opening night): Lewis Capaldi and Zara Larsson
• Saturday, December 5: Imagine Dragons

More acts are expected as Ethara staggers its reveals through the autumn, as it did in 2024 and 2025. Golden Circle upgrades (around Dhs295) add closest-to-stage access, fast-track entry and dedicated bars. And the ticket doesn't stop at the track: Grand Prix entry also includes Yas Island attractions, from the theme parks to Louvre Abu Dhabi — the race-plus-festival-plus-theme-park weekend that made 2025 the biggest edition in the event's history.

The bottom line

For a season that began with two rounds pulled from the Middle East, the finale staying put is not a formality — it's a statement. Domenicali's line was simple: F1 will deliver the calendar it promised. Now the paddock's only remaining job is to show up at Yas Marina in December, under the lights, with both the F1 and F2 titles still to be settled.

Tickets and upgrades are on sale via abudhabigp.com — and if the promoter is to be believed, they're not going to be around for long.