Formula 1 has revealed it's official calendar for the 2027 season, with Australian motorsport fans set for two major changes.
Melbourne's Albert Park Circuit has opened the Formula 1 season for the past two years, however Australian fans will now have to wait til the third round for the premier motor racing category to make it's annual stop down under in 2027.
The season opener is set to be moved back to Bahrain, who will host the first round for the 7th time. The season will kick off with a double header, as the Saudi Arabian GP takes place the following week.
Both the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian grand prix's were cancelled in 2027 due to the ongoing war in the middle east, if these tensions continue the calendar could be set for another shake up before an engine is even started.
The championship dynamic has exploded with another four sprint races added to the calendar in 2026, an upgrade from six in the current season.
Although not seeming that drastic from the naked eye, there is now an extra 32 championship points to fight for and less practice sessions for the teams to collate data on the performance of the cars to determine race set-ups.
For the first time, Australia will host a sprint race meaning that fans will be exposed to a new format with one practice session and qualifying on the Friday, a sprint race and main race qualifying on the Saturday and then the feature main race on the Sunday.
Formula 1 revealed the decision to increase the number of sprint races was in direct response from fan and viewership data.
"Since the Sprint was introduced in 2021, the data shows that total viewership of Sprint weekends is 12% higher than non-Sprint weekends. Sprint Qualifying is up to three times more popular with fans than Free Practice, 82% of attendees at Sprint weekends say it adds value to their ticket, and 75% of F1 fans believe Sprint events add greater value to a season's calendar."
The sprint format is adding a second layer to the championship, with more points on the table and more races, but the question of does it actually provide quality racing remains.
Monaco is a track known for it's lack of potential to overtake already due to the narrow layout, yet F1 have opted to add a sprint race to the event.
The full list of tracks to host sprint races in 2027 include: Bahrain, Australia, Suzuka, Montreal, Monaco, Silverstone, Monza, Sao Paulo, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
Türkiye and Portugal have been added to the calendar to make a return with Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort and Barcelona having dropped off. The Dutch GP will permanently not feature on the calendar whilst Barcelona is on a biennial rotation agreement with the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.
The dates of the Australian GP for 2027 are April 2-4.
