Monaco gets its first Saturday shootout as Portugal and Turkey roar back onto a 24-race grid.
Formula 1 dropped the F1 2027 calendar on Wednesday morning and immediately lit a fuse. Ten Sprint weekends. A first-ever Saturday race through the streets of Monaco. And two old tracks that fans have been begging to see again.
The official @F1 account posted the schedule at 09:00 GMT with a slick video and a blunt caption: “Introducing the 2027 F1 calendar.” Within hours it had more than two million views. Drivers, team bosses and paddock regulars were already arguing about the boldest line on the sheet.
Introducing the 2027 F1 calendar! 🗓️#F1 pic.twitter.com/3xNXUA16IE
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 16, 2026
That line is Monaco.
Ten Sprints, One Sacred Street Circuit
Sprint weekends jump from six to ten. Bahrain, Australia, Japan, Monaco and Abu Dhabi host the format for the first time. Canada, Silverstone, Monza, Interlagos and Lusail keep theirs.
F1 says Sprint weekends pull 12 percent more viewers than standard ones. Eighty-two percent of fans who attend say the extra Saturday race adds value to the ticket. Promoters pay more for the format. Broadcasters get two qualifying sessions and a 100-kilometre race instead of a quiet Friday.
Monaco is the shock. The 3.3-kilometre street circuit has almost no passing in dry conditions. Now it loses a practice session and gains Sprint Qualifying on Friday and a Sprint on Saturday. Fans will watch two grids get set on the same walls that have defined the race since 1929.
Replies under the official post were raw. “Sprint IN MONACO???? yall are joking right?” one fan wrote. Another called it “nothing more than a money grab.” The sport’s commercial logic is clear. The racing logic is not.
Portimão and Istanbul Return
Portugal’s Autódromo Internacional do Algarve and Turkey’s Istanbul Park both last appeared in 2021, pandemic filler dates that fans still talk about. Both are back.
Portimão sits in the Algarve hills. Drivers call it a rollercoaster. Elevation changes, blind crests and a flowing layout that rewards commitment. It slots in on 18-20 June, two weeks after Monaco.
Istanbul Park returns on 1-3 October, pending final FIA homologation. The 5.3-kilometre circuit on the Asian side of the Bosphorus has huge elevation and Turn 8, a long, fast left-hander that still ranks among the great corners on the calendar.
Zandvoort is gone after 2026. Barcelona sits out under a rotation deal with Spa. Madrid’s new Madring circuit keeps the Spanish Grand Prix on 10-12 September.
How the Year Actually Flows
Pre-season testing stays in Bahrain, 24-27 February. The championship opens at the same track on 12-14 March — a Sprint weekend — then flies one week later to Jeddah.
April is a brutal triple-header: Australia, Japan, China. Miami and Montreal follow. Europe opens in Monaco, then Portimão, Silverstone, Austria, Spa and Hungary. After a five-week summer break, Monza, Madrid, Baku, Istanbul and Singapore form another compressed run. Austin, Mexico City and São Paulo make a third triple-header. Las Vegas stands alone in mid-November. Qatar and Abu Dhabi close the year with back-to-back Sprints.
Three triple-headers. A later finish than 2026. More freight miles than some teams wanted. F1 says the grouping still improves the season’s carbon footprint versus older calendars that zigzagged the globe.
Stefano Domenicali, Formula 1’s president and CEO, called the schedule “an incredible stage for another unforgettable season.” He thanked fans, the FIA, promoters and marshals in the official statement. FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem said the calendar “combines tradition, innovation and fan engagement.”
What It Means on Track
More Sprints means more points available on Saturday. The current system awards points to the top eight finishers. If the championship is tight in December, Abu Dhabi’s Sprint could decide the title before Sunday’s Grand Prix even starts.
Less practice at Monaco and Suzuka will squeeze rookies and midfield teams that rely on Friday running to dial in the car. Silverstone and Interlagos already know how to run the format. Sakhir and Yas Marina will learn on the fly.
Drivers have mixed feelings about Sprints in general. Some like the extra action. Others say the extra session eats into recovery and setup time. None of them have raced a Sprint around the swimming pool and the Rascasse. That experiment starts in June 2027.
The calendar is now locked, subject only to the usual geopolitical and homologation caveats around the Gulf races and Istanbul. Tickets for several 2027 rounds are already on waitlists. The argument over Monaco’s Sprint will last until the cars actually roll out on Friday evening in Monte Carlo.
Twenty-four races. Ten Sprints. Two returning tracks that fans missed. One street circuit that was never designed for a Saturday dash. Formula 1 just told the world what 2027 will look like. The grid will have to race it.
AI Disclosure: This article was created with the assistance of artificial intelligence tools and was reviewed and edited by the Glowls News editorial team before publication.