F1 2026 Calendar
Twenty-four rounds, five continents, a brand-new venue and a Ramadan-driven reshuffle at the front of the calendar — the 2026 F1 season is the most-changed schedule in years. Here's every round, every date, and what's actually different from 2025.
2026 F1 Calendar by the Numbers
- 24 rounds: the total number of Grand Prix weekends on the 2026 calendar, per Formula1.com's official season-reveal article — matching the longest F1 seasons on record.
- March 6-8: the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne opens the season, the first of a three-race opening block with China and Japan.
- December 4-6: the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina closes the season, more than nine months after the opener.
- 6 Sprint weekends: China (Shanghai), Miami, Canada, Britain, the Netherlands and Singapore host a Sprint in 2026, per Formula1 and the FIA's Sprint calendar announcement — about a quarter of the full schedule.
- 2 first-time Sprint hosts: Zandvoort and Singapore run their first-ever Sprint weekends in 2026, joining Montreal, which also debuts as a Sprint venue this year.
- 1 new venue: Madrid joins the calendar on September 11-13 as a second Spanish race alongside the existing Barcelona-Catalunya round in June, while the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola drops off entirely, per Formula1.com.
Full 2026 F1 Race Calendar
| Rd | Grand Prix | Circuit | Dates | Sprint? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australian GP | Melbourne | Mar 6-8 | — |
| 2 | Chinese GP | Shanghai | Mar 13-15 | Yes |
| 3 | Japanese GP | Suzuka | Mar 27-29 | — |
| 4 | Bahrain GP | Sakhir | Apr 10-12 | — |
| 5 | Saudi Arabian GP | Jeddah | Apr 17-19 | — |
| 6 | Miami GP | Miami | May 1-3 | Yes |
| 7 | Canadian GP | Montreal | May 22-24 | Yes |
| 8 | Monaco GP | Monte Carlo | Jun 5-7 | — |
| 9 | Spanish GP | Barcelona-Catalunya | Jun 12-14 | — |
| 10 | Austrian GP | Spielberg | Jun 26-28 | — |
| 11 | British GP | Silverstone | Jul 3-5 | Yes |
| 12 | Belgian GP | Spa-Francorchamps | Jul 17-19 | — |
| 13 | Hungarian GP | Budapest | Jul 24-26 | — |
| 14 | Dutch GP | Zandvoort | Aug 21-23 | Yes |
| 15 | Italian GP | Monza | Sep 4-6 | — |
| 16 | Madrid GP (Spanish GP) | Madrid | Sep 11-13 | — |
| 17 | Azerbaijan GP | Baku | Sep 24-26 | — |
| 18 | Singapore GP | Marina Bay | Oct 9-11 | Yes |
| 19 | United States GP | Austin | Oct 23-25 | — |
| 20 | Mexico City GP | Mexico City | Oct 30-Nov 1 | — |
| 21 | São Paulo GP | Interlagos | Nov 6-8 | — |
| 22 | Las Vegas GP | Las Vegas | Nov 19-21 | — |
| 23 | Qatar GP | Lusail | Nov 27-29 | — |
| 24 | Abu Dhabi GP | Yas Marina | Dec 4-6 | — |
Rounds and dates per Formula1.com's official 2026 calendar reveal; Sprint venues per Formula1 and the FIA's separate Sprint calendar announcement. Read the full 24-round breakdown alongside our 2026 team principal lineup to see who's calling strategy at every stop.
The Ramadan Reshuffle: Why Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Moved
For most of the last decade, Bahrain has opened or nearly opened the F1 season in early March, with Saudi Arabia following a week or two later. In 2026, both races move to April instead — Bahrain on April 10-12 and Saudi Arabia on April 17-19 — landing after the opening Australia-China-Japan block rather than before it. Formula1.com's own calendar announcement attributes the shift directly to Ramadan, which falls across February and March in 2026; racing during the observance in either Gulf nation would have clashed with local scheduling norms, so F1 pushed both rounds later instead. It's the same logic that has shuffled the Bahrain and Saudi dates in other recent seasons when Ramadan's lunar-calendar timing overlapped the usual early-season window.
Madrid Debuts, Imola Drops Off
The biggest structural change to the 2026 calendar isn't a date, it's a new venue. Madrid joins F1 for the first time on September 11-13, hosting its own round of the Spanish Grand Prix — not a replacement for the long-running Barcelona-Catalunya race, which stays on the calendar in June, but a second Spanish date entirely. That makes Spain the only country to host two rounds in 2026. The trade-off is the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, which does not return after a multi-year run, continuing F1's pattern of rotating newer street and hybrid circuits in ahead of some of its shorter-tenured European stops. For the technical side of what teams are racing with this year, see our 2026 ground-effect rules explainer and the 2026 sustainable-fuel breakdown.
Six Sprint Weekends, Three of Them New
F1 and the FIA confirmed 6 Sprint venues for 2026: China (Shanghai), Miami, Canada (Montreal), Britain (Silverstone), the Netherlands (Zandvoort) and Singapore. Shanghai and Miami are hosting a Sprint for a third consecutive year, but three of the six are entirely new to the format — Montreal, Zandvoort and Singapore all run their first-ever Sprint weekends in 2026, spreading the shorter Saturday-race format to circuits that have never used it before. That's roughly a quarter of the 24-round calendar run under the Sprint format, where Friday qualifying sets the Sprint grid, Saturday's Sprint hands out its own points, and Saturday afternoon qualifying then sets the grid for Sunday's full Grand Prix.
Summer Break and the Season-Closing Stretch
The calendar's only extended gap comes after the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 24-26, with the next round — the Dutch GP at Zandvoort — not until August 21-23, F1's traditional mandatory summer shutdown. The season then tightens up considerably at the other end: a genuine triple-header across the Americas runs the United States (Oct 23-25), Mexico City (Oct 30-Nov 1) and São Paulo (Nov 6-8) on three consecutive weekends, before a short breather ahead of the season's closing trio — Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi — run across five weeks to decide both championships. Catch up on how those title fights actually unfold on-track with our team radio archive, or gear up for race weekend with our best F1 merchandise guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many races are in the 2026 F1 season?
There are 24 Grand Prix rounds in the 2026 F1 season, per Formula1.com's official calendar reveal. That ties the record for the longest F1 season ever held, matching the 24-round calendars run in several recent seasons.
When does the 2026 F1 season start and end?
The 2026 season opens with the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne on March 6-8 and closes with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina on December 4-6, spanning just over nine months and five continents.
Why did Bahrain and Saudi Arabia move to April in 2026?
Formula1.com's calendar announcement cites Ramadan, which falls across February and March in 2026, as the reason both Gulf races were pushed out of their usual early-season slot. Bahrain now runs April 10-12 and Saudi Arabia April 17-19, after the Australia-China-Japan opening block instead of before it.
How many Sprint races are there in 2026 and where?
F1 and the FIA confirmed 6 Sprint weekends for 2026: China (Shanghai), Miami, Canada (Montreal, its first-ever Sprint), Britain (Silverstone), the Netherlands (Zandvoort, its first-ever Sprint), and Singapore (also its first-ever Sprint). That is roughly a quarter of the 24-race calendar.
The Bottom Line
The 2026 F1 calendar keeps the 24-round length fans have gotten used to, but reshapes the front of the season around Ramadan and adds Madrid as the first genuinely new venue in years — all while trimming Imola from the schedule. Six Sprint weekends, three of them brand-new, spread the format wider than ever, and the season still ends the way it has for a few years now: a brutal Americas triple-header followed by a Las Vegas-Qatar-Abu Dhabi sprint to the title. For the regulations shaping what the cars actually look like this year, read our ground-effect explainer and budget cap breakdown, and check our 2026 team principal guide to know who's on the pit wall calling the shots at every one of these 24 rounds — and our F1 minimum weight guide for why this year's cars are the first in over a decade to actually get lighter.