Monaco gets an F1 sprint in 2027, and Le Mans stays free
Ten sprints, two returning circuits and one June weekend F1 deliberately left empty
Formula 1 and the FIA have confirmed the 2027 calendar: 24 grands prix in 22 countries, from Bahrain on 14 March to Abu Dhabi on 12 December. Ten weekends carry a sprint, up from six, and Monaco is one of them. Portugal and Türkiye return, the Dutch Grand Prix does not, and the Le Mans weekend of 12 and 13 June has no Formula 1 race at all.
Monaco's sprint is 100 km with no pit stops, on a track where the 2024 top ten never moved
Monaco hosts a sprint for the first time on Saturday 5 June 2027, the day before the grand prix. Sprint Qualifying on Friday sets the grid, and the 100 km race runs about 30 minutes, has no mandatory pit stop, and pays eight points to the winner down to one for eighth. Formula 1's release sells the weekend on its two qualifying sessions and does not describe the sprint at all. In 2024 the top ten finished the Monaco Grand Prix in the order they had started it, and for 2025 the FIA imposed two compulsory pit stops to force position changes. A sprint removes the one lever that rule pulled.
Ten sprints put 80 points on the table, up from 48, and three land in the first four rounds
Sprint weekends grow from six to ten. Bahrain, Australia, Japan, Monaco and Abu Dhabi host one for the first time; Canada, Britain, Italy, Brazil and Qatar get theirs back. The season opens with three sprints in its first four rounds. A driver who wins every sprint collects 80 points, more than three grand prix victories, where six sprints capped that at 48. Formula 1's justification is its own audience data: a sprint weekend draws 12 percent more viewers than a conventional one.
Portimão returns on 20 June, Istanbul Park on 3 October until 2031, and Zandvoort is gone
Portugal is back at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve on 20 June on a two-year deal, its first race since the pandemic rounds of 2020 and 2021. Türkiye returns to Istanbul Park on 3 October, between Baku and Singapore, on a contract to 2031. The Dutch Grand Prix is missing, as Zandvoort said it would be, and Belgium keeps its 25 July date on a contract that skips 2028 and 2030. Madrid's Madring hosts its second race on 12 September, and the United States is the only country with more than one round: Miami, Austin and Las Vegas, the last now a standalone weekend on 20 November.
Le Mans on 12 and 13 June has no grand prix, but Monaco and Portimão bracket it
The 24 Hours of Le Mans runs on 12 and 13 June 2027 with no Formula 1 race that weekend: Monaco is the Sunday before, Portimão the Sunday after. The Le Mans test day falls on Monaco Sunday, which the ACO can waive for Platinum-rated drivers. The rest of the endurance calendar is clear: the Indianapolis 500 on 30 May does not collide with Canada on 23 May, the Nürburgring 24 Hours of 27 to 30 May sits in the gap before Monaco, and the Spa 24 Hours of 24 to 27 June in the gap after Portugal. That is the window Lando Norris, who tested McLaren's MCL-HY at Portimão on 14 September, and Max Verstappen have both said they want.
One four-day Bahrain test replaces three sessions, and August gets four free weekends
Pre-season testing shrinks to a single four-day session at Sakhir from 24 to 27 February, down from three sessions this year. Bahrain then opens the season on 14 March. The summer break runs from Hungary on 1 August to Monza on 5 September, four empty weekends where 2026 had three. Formula 1 says the 2026 finale in Qatar and Abu Dhabi goes ahead until further notice, given the conflict in the region; the 2027 calendar puts four rounds in the Gulf and does not say what happens if they cannot run.
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Monaco's sprint will be settled on Friday afternoon. Sprint Qualifying sets the order, there is no pit stop to shuffle it, and 100 km around Monte Carlo is too short for tyre wear to do the work the FIA's two-stop rule was invented to do. The 12 percent viewership premium Formula 1 quotes is an average built at Interlagos, Silverstone and Lusail, tracks where a sprint produces passing; it says nothing about the one circuit where a full grand prix left the top ten where it started. Our expectation for 5 June 2027 is a sprint whose top eight finish in Sprint Qualifying order.
The Le Mans weekend is free, and our 14 September call on Norris still holds: Portimão is on 20 June, Monaco on 6 June, and no team hands its lead driver three consecutive race weekends in two categories. The ACO's test-day waiver removes the smaller obstacle, not that one. Verstappen has more to gain, because the Nürburgring and Spa 24-hour races both fall in clear gaps and neither needs a hypercar seat. Expect a Verstappen GT3 entry at one of them before any current Formula 1 driver's name appears on the ACO's Le Mans 2027 entry list.
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