F1 2027 calendar takes shape with Turkish GP return confirmation

Confirmation of Turkey’s return to the F1 calendar for 2027 completes all 24 of next season’s events with only specific dates for the full schedule yet to be confirmed.

Having last hosted F1 in 2021, Turkey’s return is one of two additions for next year, alongside the Portuguese GP, the events replacing the Barcelona and Dutch Grands Prix.

F1 2027 calendar takes shape

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The full calendar is yet to be confirmed, though it’s expected Bahrain will start the year off on March 14, the first weekend after Ramadan concludes on March 8, followed by Saudi Arabia.

From there, a swing through Asia with the Australian, Chinese and Japanese Grands Prix will follow, then F1 will likely head into North America and finally on to Europe in early June.

Using the F1 2025 calendar as a blueprint, Turkey would logically slot into the second half of the season; ahead of the Azerbaijan GP would make sense from a logistics standpoint as F1 heads east for Singapore and, beyond that, the Americas.

Portugal, meanwhile, logically slots in as part of the early European events, shortly after Monaco and ahead of the traditional run from Austria through Britain to Hungary and Belgium.

Barcelona remains in the picture, sharing hosting rights with Belgium, a point that will likely see the calendar evolve.

Further to that, without the Dutch GP, it remains to be seen whether it will be the Spanish or Italian GP reopens the season.

Even still, we can predict with some confidence an approximate F1 2027 calendar, though this remains unconfirmed and the product of deduction.

Potential F1 2027 calendar

The finances driving Turkey’s F1 return

The 24-event calendar sees every available slot on the calendar filled, a key element for Formula One Management’s revenue as a significant portion of its income derived from event promoters.

Under the Concorde Agreement, a maximum of 24 events can ordinarily be scheduled. It is therefore in FOM’s best interest to ensure they are all filled given the average asking price is around $50 million.

Organisers in Zandvoort, who are understood to have paid considerably less than that figure, deemed the cost of hosting F1 too high, and have elected not to carry on with its event beyond this season.

That opened a slot for a new event, and while there are a number of promoters who have expressed interest in hosting a round of the world championship, few are in a position to step in now.

Turkey was one of them, and the resulting five-year arrangement works for both parties.

Not only does it bring back a popular circuit among drivers and fans, but secures it for the medium-term, offering security for FOM and the local promoter.

Beyond that, it stabilises the F1 calendar for the long term with the Portuguese, Singapore, and Mexico City GPs due for renewal following their 2028 events.

Already, that event looks under pressure with Thailand investing significant time and resources into luring F1 to a proposed street circuit in Bangkok.

Of the three, Singapore seems the most likely to renew, with Mexico City perhaps the least likely – Sergio Perez remains a huge draw and, by 2029, there is a strong chance the Mexican will have retired.

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The long-term scheduling of events is important for a variety of reasons for FOM.

Chief among those is the stable financial baseline it offers. Regardless of what happens in the broadcast and advertising space, FOM has secured approximately a third of its annual income into the long term.

That helps stabilise its share price and comes at a useful time given the uncertainty that has been introduced by the new regulations.

Since the start of the year, the share price has dropped by 9.6 percent, though it is worth noting it is up just under two percent over the past 12 months.

But the Turkey announcement is even more valuable as it increases scarcity.

With interest in F1 high, and opportunities to host it extremely limited, FOM is in the luxurious position of being able to raise hosting fees to reflect that.

There are theoretically three slots available, but not until 2029, and one of those seems already filled and at least one likely to renew.

In reality, prospective hosts are bidding for a single available slot, driving up the asking price – a fact that will no doubt inflate all negotiations beyond it.

The return of the Turkish GP is therefore a significant win for F1 as a business.

A five year deal in a market that was comparatively dry is a strong result, one Stefano Domenicali and his team should be pleased with.

But the real value is not in the return of racing to Istanbul Park, but the knock on to every other financial conversation that follows.

It’s a positive step all around, with a full calendar announcement expected in coming weeks, given the F1 2026 calendar was made last June.

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