JEDDAH (The Thursday Times) — Formula E has postponed the Jeddah E-Prix double-header that was due to open its new season next month, moving the two races from December 18 and 19 to April 16 and 17, 2027, and citing “recent developments in the region”.
The all-electric championship said on Thursday that the decision had been agreed with its Saudi promoter SELA, the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation, the FIA, and local stakeholders, “taking into account recent developments in the region and the logistical considerations involved”.
It said the move “serves to preserve the complete integrity and scope of the Championship”. Jeddah will still host two races on the Corniche Circuit, the same number as planned.
Mexico opens the season
With Jeddah moved, the 2026–27 season, the first for Formula E’s new Gen4 cars, will now begin in Mexico City on January 16. The Sanya E-Prix in China has been brought forward by two weeks to April 3 to make room for the rescheduled Saudi rounds.
The championship did not spell out what it meant by developments in the region. The postponement comes as the Houthis in Yemen step up missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, including on airports and energy sites. On Thursday the group said it had targeted a pumping station on the kingdom’s East-West oil pipeline and an oil facility in Yanbu, a claim Saudi Arabia had not confirmed.
A run of postponed events
Formula E is the latest international event in the kingdom to be moved. The 2027 Dakar Rally has been taken out of Saudi Arabia and will be held in Portugal and Morocco instead, and the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh has been pushed back to October 2027.
Elsewhere in the Gulf, the United States has pulled its team out of the Under-17 World Cup in Qatar over safety concerns.
Formula One is still planning to race in Qatar at the end of November and in Abu Dhabi in early December. Its own Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is scheduled to return to the same Jeddah circuit in March 2027.
