Formula 1 is preparing for another major change in the way its championship weekends are structured. In 2027, the calendar is set to feature 24 Grands Prix and 10 Sprint weekends, meaning almost half of the season will include an additional competitive race.

The Sprint format was introduced to create more on-track competition throughout the weekend rather than concentrating almost everything around Sunday’s Grand Prix. It has since become a permanent part of Formula 1’s sporting structure—and its role continues to expand.

The planned 2027 Sprint venues are Bahrain, Australia, Japan, Canada, Monaco, Great Britain, Italy, São Paulo, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

The season is scheduled to begin with a Sprint in Bahrain in March, followed by Australia and Japan. Canada and Monaco are next, before the format returns later in the season at Silverstone, Monza, Interlagos, Lusail and Yas Marina.

The inclusion of Monaco is particularly notable.

Monte Carlo remains one of the most recognizable venues in motorsport, but its narrow streets and extremely limited overtaking opportunities create a very different racing environment from modern purpose-built circuits. A Sprint weekend adds another competitive session to a circuit where track position is already exceptionally important.

But the expansion is about more than adding entertainment.

A Sprint weekend changes the strategic mathematics of Formula 1. Drivers can score additional championship points, teams face another competitive session and engineers have less opportunity to make adjustments between sessions. A mistake can therefore become much more expensive.

For a driver, an incident during the Sprint can damage the entire weekend. For a team, repairing a damaged car can create additional pressure on budgets, components and preparation. The traditional Formula 1 weekend offered more time to learn how a car was behaving. A Sprint weekend compresses that learning process.

That becomes particularly interesting in 2027 because Formula 1 will be operating under the second year of the major technical regulations introduced in 2026.

Those regulations brought a new generation of cars and significant changes to their technology and aerodynamic philosophy. By 2027, teams should have considerably more experience with the new rules. That could mean closer competition—but it could also mean that teams discover increasingly sophisticated ways to exploit the regulations.

For fans, the appeal is obvious: there are more sessions that matter and more opportunities to see championship contenders fighting for points.

But there is another side to the expansion.

Formula 1 has traditionally built much of its prestige around the Grand Prix itself. Sunday is the centerpiece—the long race that tests strategy, tyre management, reliability, pace and consistency over a much greater distance.

The more Sprint races become integrated into the championship, the more the definition of a Formula 1 weekend changes.

Is the Sprint an enhancement of the Grand Prix experience—or does it gradually reduce the uniqueness of the main race?

There is also a sporting question. Ten additional opportunities to score points can influence championship battles in ways that did not exist under the traditional format. A driver who performs consistently across Sprint and Grand Prix sessions has more opportunities to build a points advantage, while one mistake can have consequences twice in the same weekend.

For Formula 1 management, the attraction is creating more competitive moments for audiences and giving the championship additional storylines throughout the weekend.

For teams and drivers, however, it means another layer of pressure.

In 2027, the question will not simply be who has the fastest car.

It will be who can consistently perform when almost half of the championship weekends demand two races instead of one.

Formula 1 will still have 24 Grands Prix.

But on ten weekends, the fight for the championship will begin long before Sunday.