Formula 1 cancelled their two April races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia due to the war in the Middle East, and decided not to reschedule them or replace them, turning the 24-Grand Prix season into a 22-Grand Prix season. Other motorsport competitions, like MotoGP, tried something different: they moved the Qatar Grand Prix from April to November.
F1 Academy tried a different idea. After the Saudi Arabia races cancelled, they added another one in Montreal and Austin: Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve will host the second round of the F1 Academy in May and Austin will be the fifth stop in October. The added stops in Canada and USA will have a three-race format, with an Opening Race which will act as a qualifying to determine the grid for the following race.
The move restores the calendar to 14 races across six rounds in five countries. The F1 Academy, launched in 2023, is a competition for women aged 16 to 25.