REPORT: F1's Bahrain, Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Will Be Cancelled, Won't Be Replaced

There have been questions from the start of the season about whether Formula 1 will be able to safely hold its fourth round of the season in Bahrain and fifth round in Saudi Arabia amid the war in the Middle East.

It seems we may now have an answer.

According to a new report from Sky Sports' Craig Slater, those two race weekends are set to be canceled. Slater said that he expects this to be made official sometime in the next 48 hours.

Right now, Formula 1 is in the middle of the Chinese Grand Prix weekend, with the Sprint Race and Qualifying coming late Friday night into Saturday morning for those of us on the East Coast.

Slater said he learned this information from leadership figures within Formula 1 and that, in all likelihood, the races would not be replaced.

That's a big deal as it would mean the calendar drops to 22 races, and none in April. There would be over a month-long gap between the Japanese Grand Prix in late March and the Miami Grand Prix in early May.

It's a real shame, but obviously, priority No. 1 is safety, and it sounds like F1 and the FIA are erring on the side of caution for good reason.

Formula 1 may cancel the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Grands Prix amid Middle East conflict, which could leave a month-long gap in the F1 calendar and impact the title fight. (Getty Images)

However, it'll be interesting to see what effect losing these two races might have on the championship at the end of the season.

Right now, Mercedes seems to be the team to beat, and I think the high-speed Jeddah Corniche Street Circuit in Saudi Arabia would've suited them pretty well. They've been dominant on straights, and while that circuit has a lot of turns, so many of them are taken at high speed or even flat-out (at least they were previously; who knows with these new cars?).

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However, I think their closest competition so far, Ferrari, might have been licking their chops at the prospect of racing in Bahrain. That's because so far, their car has been the best in slow corners and on the starts thanks to a smaller turbo that gets up to speed faster than any other on the grid. 

Bahrain has a few slower corners like Turns 2 and 3, 8, and the dreaded Turn 10, plus a long run into the first turn that would allow the Ferraris to pick up positions at the start if they needed to. 

We saw that exact thing happen in the season-opener in Australia.

So, in the end, it may have been a wash, but then again, we'll probably never know.