2027 Calendar, official: Sprint in Monaco and Monza, Turkey and Portugal return

Formula 1 has published the first version of the 2027 calendar. The main news is the increase in Sprint events, from 6 to 10, including the rounds in Monte Carlo and Monza, as well as the opening and closing weekends of the season. The Circus also welcomes back Istanbul and Portimao, which replace Barcelona and Zandvoort. The calendar finally includes the four classic rounds in the Middle East, while waiting to see how the war will evolve to possibly implement the alternative plan.

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The 2027 calendar

Bahrain will once again be the meeting point for teams for pre-season testing, scheduled from February 24 to 27. The first race will also take place in Sakhir, followed by the round in Saudi Arabia the following week. April will feature a triple header in Australia, Japan, and China, grouped into a single trip to Oceania and the Far East to facilitate logistics. In June, there will be the first major novelty compared to the current calendar, with the return of Formula 1 to Portimao on June 20. The Portuguese round replaces Barcelona, which begins its rotation with Spa, regularly scheduled from July 23 to 25, 2027.

The Budapest race on August 1 will be followed by a long break of over a month, after which racing will resume directly in Monza in early September. Indeed, the calendar no longer includes the Zandvoort round, whose contract with Formula 1 expired at the end of the 2026 edition. In its place, racing will return to Istanbul on October 3, in the middle of the triple header with Baku and Singapore. The season finale will be the classic Qatar-Abu Dhabi double header, with the event in the United Arab Emirates scheduled for December 12.

Sprints increase

Another big novelty of the next season will be the increase in Sprint events. It starts immediately with the opening weekend in Bahrain, while the European public will have to prepare for early wake-ups also for the Australian and Japanese Grands Prix. Canada will also host the Sprint in 2027, but above all the alternative format will also take place in Monte Carlo, evidently focusing on the double qualifying rather than adding a race on a track prohibitive for overtaking.

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The other European Sprints will be those of Silverstone and Monza, as already announced in recent weeks. Finally, the last three Sprint weekends will be held in Brazil, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, a first for the United Arab Emirates circuit. In publishing the calendar, Formula 1 wanted to emphasize how the alternative format enjoys greater popularity among the public, reporting a 12% increase in viewership compared to traditional weekends and three times more interest in Friday qualifying compared to the second free practice session.

The 2027 calendar

An alternative plan ready

The one just published represents only a first version of the 2027 calendar. At the beginning of August, Stefano Domenicali anticipated that Formula 1 was already working on an alternative plan, in case the conflict in the Middle East again prevented racing in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi: “The calendar to be presented in autumn will be a regular plan. Obviously, however, if the situation in the Middle East does not resolve, we will have options. The deadline to implement them is the end of the year, which is why we still have plenty of time.” The CEO of Formula 1, however, assured: “If the situation in that region is not so optimal for next year, we will have several plans. We have multiple options to ensure that the goal of 24 Grands Prix next year is reached in any case.”

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