F1 expands Sprint programme to 10 events in 2027 calendar unveiled on September 16
Formula One announced on September 16 that its 2027 calendar will comprise 24 races and increase the number of Sprint events from six to 10, with returns to Portimao and Istanbul confirmed. Sprints are 100 kilometres and are staged on Saturdays ahead of the main Grand Prix on Sunday.
The Sprint concept was introduced in 2021 as a way to add competitive significance to all three days of a race weekend and to give race promoters more on-track action. The sport’s global profile surged after the Drive to Survive series first aired on Netflix in 2019, prompting organisers to seek formats that deliver more context-heavy sessions than the traditional Friday practice, Saturday qualifying and Sunday race weekend. Before Sprints, teams often used Friday primarily for car set-up and sometimes omitted running in the first half-hour because the track was described as ‘dirty’.
The Sprint format has been altered repeatedly since its introduction to address sporting and statistical concerns. In 2021 the Sprint Qualifying winner was credited with pole position; that was changed in 2022 to award the pole stat to the fastest driver in Friday’s shootout after objections from figures including Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. The resulting paradox — the Friday quickest getting the pole stat but the Sprint winner starting first on Sunday — led the FIA and F1 in 2023 to run Sprint as a standalone Saturday event with its own Sprint Shootout and to hold qualification for Sunday’s race on Friday evening. In 2024 the order was adjusted again so Sprint qualification took place on Friday, the Sprint itself ran on Saturday, and qualifying for Sunday followed.
On the appeal of the format, the organisers pointed to fan data in a recent statement: “Since the Sprint was introduced in 2021, data shows that total viewership of Sprint weekends is 12% higher than non-Sprint weekends,” the head honchos stated recently in a statement. “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; 75% of F1 fans believe Sprint events add greater value to a season’s calendar.”
After six seasons of Sprints, the on-track product remains a subject of debate. The additional session has given every day of a weekend more purpose, but incidents deemed memorable have been limited and drivers often adopt risk-averse tactics to avoid damage that could affect the main race; the format also typically omits pit stops. Max Verstappen clinched his third successive F1 title at the 2023 Qatar GP Sprint, an outcome that the article notes as unusual for deciding a World Championship outside the main race.
Observers point to differences between junior categories and F1 as an explanation for the conservative nature of Sprint races: in junior formulas reverse-grid Sprints are used to train drivers in overtaking, whereas F1’s emphasis on fairness and higher stakes has made organisers cautious about similar interventions. The article notes that only a small number of drivers have taken victory in both the Sprint and the Grand Prix on the same weekend and that Sprints have produced few outlier winners or podiums to change that dynamic. It also flags that reverse grids could be problematic at venues where overtaking is difficult and notes Monaco is one of the 10 Sprint events next season, while some drivers are reportedly unconvinced that reverse grids would be desirable because of potential Championship-table consequences.
The piece outlines several options for differentiating Sprints going forward: reverting to a one-shot qualifying format in which drivers go on track in a pre-determined order — by Championship standings or results from the previous race — and have only one attempt to set a lap, and experimenting with a bespoke Sprint-specific tyre compound that would be less durable than a full-race tyre to encourage tyre-management battles, provided those events are held at circuits where overtaking is feasible.
With Sprint events set to rise to 10 in 2027 and Monaco among them, the organisers face a choice between preserving the current Sprint structure and adopting measures such as reverse grids, one-shot qualifying or Sprint-specific tyre compounds to make the Saturday spectacle distinct from a mini-Grand Prix.