Jeff Dodds confident Jeddah double-header will go ahead as planned despite Middle East tensions

The crisis in the Middle East has eased, but the region is not yet completely peaceful or secure. As a result, questions have emerged over whether Formula E's schedule will proceed as planned if the situation remains unchanged.

The newly announced Formula E calendar has Season 13 beginning with a double-header in Jeddah, scheduled for 17–19 December. Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds has shared his thoughts on the matter, and his outlook appears to be a positive one.

Will the Jeddah double-header take place as planned in December?

Formula E recently announced its most extensive calendar to date, featuring 21 races across 13 cities worldwide. When Jeff Dodds was asked whether the Formula E race at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit would go ahead as planned in December, he responded by recalling a conversation he had with one of the championship's manufacturers.Dodds told RacingNews365, "So, I was with one of our manufacturer partners last week, a big manufacturer, and I asked them the question, which was: if we were racing in Jeddah this weekend, and you had to go to your board and say, 'Is everyone okay if we travel to the Middle East and race there?', what would the answer be?”

"They went away to get that answer, so they officially put the request in, and they came back and said they'd been told there were zero restrictions on travelling there, so we'd be absolutely fine to go there.

So, what we've got underway is a big piece of work that basically says under what conditions we'd be fine to race and under what conditions we wouldn't be fine to race," he added.Speaking about feedback from other teams and manufacturers, he added, "But I think it's interesting for us to already be getting feedback from teams and manufacturer partners that, under the current conditions, they'd be okay to travel and race in Jeddah.

So, our expectation is that we'll be racing in Jeddah next season to kick off our season in December."

Formula E Season 13 calendar

The new calendar features a floodlit Jeddah double-header to open the 2026–27 season. The new GEN4 cars will compete across 21 races, many of them double-headers. New venues in Austin and Zandvoort have been added to the calendar, further expanding Formula E's global footprint.Also read: Formula E unveils biggest-ever calendar with 21 races and new race format for 2026–27