Fans puzzled by ‘extremely silly’ change to F1’s most divisive race
F1 fans have been left scratching their heads following revelations next year’s Monaco Grand Prix will be a sprint weekend.
The 2027 F1 calendar, set to be released on Wednesday night (AEST), is believed to include an increase to 10 sprint races, up from six in 2026. Monaco and the Italian Grand Prix at Monza are believed to be among the hosts.
Oscar Piastri at the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix. Getty Images
The tight and twisty Monaco circuit is statistically the most difficult on the calendar to overtake, with many fans believing Saturday qualifying – in which drivers hurl the cars around at full tilt millimetres away from the barriers – to be the highlight of the race weekend.
Fans are concerned two qualifying sessions will dilute the spectacle.
The format for sprint weekends is a single practice session on the Friday morning (local time), before sprint qualifying that afternoon. The sprint race is held on Saturday morning, before the traditional grand prix qualifying Saturday afternoon and the main race on Sunday.
Non-sprint weekends have three practice sessions across Friday and Saturday morning, before qualifying on the Saturday afternoon and race on Sunday. In Monaco, drivers slowly work their way up to the limits across the three sessions.
Organisers would be hoping slashing the amount of practice time will increase drama and unpredictability across the remainder of the weekend, likely through crashes, because drivers haven’t had the same amount of time to prepare for the race.
The counter-argument from fans though is the timing of the sprint race means drivers will be trying to avoid picking up any damage that would compromise grand prix qualifying, usually held about three hours after the sprint.
Sprint races are about a third of the distance of the main grand prix, with about a third of the points on offer.
A big crash in the sprint race would leave teams little time to repair the car for qualifying, condemning them to a lowly grid position and virtually no chance of a good result.
Running a sprint race is the sport’s latest attempt to spice up the action at Monaco. In 2025, the sport mandated two pit stops to try and force strategy variations.
Despite the poor racing spectacle, its century-old roots mean Monaco remains a crown jewel race every driver on the grid dreams of winning.
Meanwhile, the Australian Grand Prix looks set to be the third race of the year to be held from April 1-4.
But which races will be the season-openers will remain in doubt for months even after the calendar is confirmed.
Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are expected to be listed as the first and second races, with Japan and China to follow Australia as part of a triple-header.
However, if the Middle East conflict is not resolved, it's understood China would move three weeks earlier to become the season opener, ahead of Japan and then Australia.
The Australian Grand Prix is expected to be the third race of the season on the first weekend in April. Eddie Jim
The Melbourne race cannot be moved for next year because of continuing works on the new pit building.
F1 is also expected to this week make a call on whether or not the two Middle East races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi scheduled to end the 2026 season will go ahead. It’s expected if they are cancelled, a single race meeting will be held at Imola to end the season.
The F1 fraternity will this weekend enjoy a week off, before three scheduled three triple-headers to end the season. The Azerbaijan Grand Prix is on Saturday, 26 September.
Likely provisional 2027 F1 calendar
- Bahrain | March 14
- Saudi Arabia | March 21
- Australia | April 4
- China | April 11
- Japan | April 25
- Miami | May 9
- Canada | May 23
- Monaco | June 6
- Portugal | June 13
- Austria | June 27
- Great Britain | July 4
- Belgium | July 18
- Hungary | July 25
- Spain | August 29
- Italy | September 5
- Turkey | September 19
- Azerbaijan | September 25
- Singapore | October 10
- United States | October 24
- Mexico City | October 31
- Sao Paulo | November 7
- Las Vegas | November 20
- Qatar | November 28
- Abu Dhabi | December 5
