Toggle Daily
Formula 1 raises sprint races to 10 for 2027
September 16, 2026
Ten sprint weekends will run in the 2027 championship, up from a ceiling of six, and Monaco is among the venues holding one for the first time.
A sprint weekend adds a Friday qualifying session and a reduced-distance Saturday race to the usual schedule, and until this change no championship season could hold more than six of them.
Key facts
- For the 2027 World Championship, Formula 1 is lifting its sprint count from six up to 10, BBC Sport reports, with Monaco on that expanded list.
- Britain's round is slated for 2-4 July. Portugal and Turkey come back onto the calendar in 2027, their first appearances since they filled gaps during the pandemic.
- Bahrain is set to open the season on 12-14 March, with Saudi Arabia following seven days later. BBC reports that both remain uncertain for as long as the Middle East war goes on.
- Bahrain, Australia, Japan, Monaco and Abu Dhabi will stage sprint weekends for the first time. Such weekends add a Friday qualifying session and put a shortened race on Saturday.
BBC reports that the 2027 World Championship will carry 10 sprint events, well past the six that had been the ceiling. A sprint weekend puts an extra qualifying session on Friday and a reduced-distance race on Saturday, and Bahrain, Australia, Japan, Monaco and Abu Dhabi each take one for the first time. Reuters ties the 2027 calendar to a record tally of sprint weekends and places Monaco among them.
On the calendar itself the two accounts agree. Racing is set to open in Bahrain from 12 to 14 March, with Saudi Arabia seven days behind it, though BBC reports both rounds remain in doubt while the war in the Middle East continues. Britain's round falls on 2-4 July. Portugal and Turkey come back to the championship, having last appeared as placeholders during the pandemic. F1 president and chief executive officer Stefano Domenicali said: "We are thrilled to welcome Portugal and Turkey to the championship and to expand sprint racing to 10 events, giving our fans even more intensity, drama, and the wheel-to-wheel action that make our sport so special."
Monaco is where the change invites argument. Passing another car on the historic street circuit is close to impossible, so once the field completes the opening lap the sprint result is all but fixed, barring accidents, BBC reports. The case F1 makes for it rests on a second run at qualifying, long one of the season's highlights around that demanding track. The venues, the dates and the number of sprints hold across both accounts; what becomes of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia rounds while the war continues does not.
The F1 president said: "We are thrilled to welcome Portugal and Turkey to the championship and to expand sprint racing to 10 events, giving our fans even more intensity, drama, and the wheel-to-wheel action that make our sport so special."
F1 president
Still developing
The staging of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia events had not moved as of the draft.
How settled the reporting is
Sources
- BBC — Formula 1 2027: Calendar to have 10 sprint races next year, including Monaco
Toggle read the full reports of 3 of the 5 outlets counted on this event. The other 2 are counted from their headlines and opening sentences.