Formula E delays Jeddah season opener over Middle East tensions

As Motorsport.com Italia reports, Formula E has officially abandoned its plan to open the season in December at Jeddah, pushing the start back to mid-January in Mexico City. The championship joins a growing list of series adjusting their schedules due to ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and severe logistical hurdles. The scheduled December date simply became untenable following attacks that struck the capital's airport, making a schedule overhaul an inevitable and sensible move for the series.

Safety concerns aside, the logistics were a nightmare waiting to happen. With teams heading to tests in Jarama, Spain, the original plan demanded shipping entire car inventories and essential freight across the globe on an impossibly tight turnaround for a race weekend set for December 18 and 19.

Now, the championship shifts to its backup plan. Mexico City takes over as the season opener in mid-January, followed by a double header across the United States visiting Austin and Miami.

Fortunately, the Saudi event has not vanished entirely. Working alongside promoter partner SELA, the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation, the FIA, and local authorities, the double-header has been rescheduled for the weekend of April 16 and 17, 2027.

This calendar reshuffle triggers a knock-on effect for the rest of the season, notably forcing the Chinese round in Sanya forward by two weeks to April 3, 2027. That new April 3 slot allows the Chinese event to neatly wedge itself between two major regional happenings on Hainan island: the region's primary international forum and its traditional annual trade fair.

Formula E at least had some breathing room in April, which originally held only the Sanya fixture, providing the flexibility needed to absorb the shifted dates without altering the total number of races on the calendar. While WEC and Dakar took similar precautions, Formula 1 and MotoGP have chosen to keep their schedules intact, with Formula 1 committing to its late-season stops in Qatar and Abu Dhabi—even after evaluating Imola as an alternative contingency plan.