Between contracts and religion
The recent announcement of the return of the Turkish GP to the calendar starting from the 2027 season has made the panorama of what the Circus’s world championship program will be next year a little clearer, naturally subject to the delicate international issues currently open and which will need to be understood how they will evolve in the next 12 months. One point that seems certain, however, is the fact that the next Formula 1 season will open no longer in Australia but in Bahrain.
What ‘reveals’ it are religious and contractual reasons. When at the end of 2022 the Melbourne circuit renewed its contract with the Circus, it obtained from F1 the guarantee of being able to host the opening race of the World Championship on at least five occasions between 2023 and 2037. Two of these have already been ‘used up’, in 2025 and 2026. In these two seasons, a central role was played by the period of Ramadan, which prompted Muslim countries like Bahrain and Saudi Arabia to change the date of their GP so as not to collide with the sacred period of fasting, prayer, and reflection, considered one of the five pillars of Islam.
Returning to 2024
In 2027, however, the month of Ramadan will be from February 7 to March 8, therefore earlier than what should be the start of the F1 season. In all likelihood, therefore, the championship will start on Sunday, March 14, at the Sakhir track, with the Australian GP instead ‘slipping’ to the third round, essentially replicating what had been the structure of the first races on the calendar in the 2022-2024 three-year period.
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In Melbourne, there are still three ‘jokers’ to play between 2028 and 2037 in which it will have the contractual right to host the first round of the championship.
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