Stefano Domenicali reveals F1 weighing up 2027 global season launch return
Formula 1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali on the grid at the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort
The F1 2027 season could begin with a group launch event as was seen in London ahead of the 2025 campaign.
Formula One Management is considering reprising the all-in event as preparations for next season revert to a more traditional format.
Stefano Domenicali confirms F1 2027 season launch talks
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The F1 2025 season kicked off with a lavish event at London’s O2 Arena with a launch featuring all 10 teams.
It was the first time in the history of the world championship that such an approach had been taken, and was done with a nod to the 75th anniversary of the world drivers’ championship.
The event proved divisive. While attracting a strong audience via its live stream, and selling out tickets to attend in person, others bemoaned the showbiz nature of the launch, which was little more than a livery reveal.
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Such an event was not possible for F1 2026 as new regulations pushed timelines to the extreme ahead of an expanded testing programme.
That saw teams initially in action behind closed doors in Barcelona in the final days of January, before two three-day tests in Bahrain through February.
However, with regulations set to remain stable, and cars simply an evolution of those set to be raced this year, there is less time pressure or need for such intensive testing.
“We are also thinking about, as we did two years ago, a potential global launch with all the teams together,” Formula One Management boss Stefano Domenicali told PlanetF1.com and other selected media.
“It was a big effect, a sort of 25th race, in terms of the communication around the world. But it’s still a work in progress on that.”
Domenicali also revealed that pre-season testing will return to a single three-day test, rather than the three outings seen in F1 2026.
“We did these three sessions because we knew, and we were aware about the complexity of this big step change of regulation,” he said.
“Next year, we go back to one single test before the season.”
Currently, the F1 2027 season has 23 confirmed grands prix.
Under the Concorde Agreement, the secret covenant that governs much of the commercial side of Formula 1, together with elements of its governance, a maximum of 24 rounds can be held unless all teams agree to expand that number.
However, the consensus is that 24 is the limit, leaving FOM to explore other avenues of expanding its revenue.
It is therefore expected that another event will be confirmed, with Domenicali hinting at Turkey despite suggestions from within the FOM ranks to PlanetF1.com that it’s far from a done deal.
That, together with an all-in launch would see the sport’s commercial rights holder maximise its top line revenue streams, from which it can continue to build out sponsorship, hospitality, and licensing deals.
It’s likely any all-in launch event will have a different complexion to the F1 75 event after some teams were left frustrated by the experience.
While a strong event for FOM itself, the value for the smaller teams is far reduced.
Traditionally, teams are able to launch to their own schedule and, when timed well, dominate the specialised news cycle for a day.
That provides value to the team’s partners which, at a group event, they wouldn’t receive as the top teams dominate the headlines.
There is also the issue of the reception it received, especially at the O2, where Christian Horner and Max Verstappen were jeered during their appearances, prompting the Dutchman to suggest he’d skip future events.
These hurdles are not insurmountable, but are lessons those at FOM will no doubt have front of mind when it comes to formulating the concept for a collective F1 2027 launch.
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