![](\"https:\/\/www.grandprix.com\/display\/photo?photo_caption=Australian+GP+2026&photo_copyright=%C2%A9+McLaren&photo_url=https%3A%2F%2Fphotos.grandprix.com%2Fjpeg%2Fraces%2Fpaus26%2Fsun%2Fmcl%2Fgrid1-lg.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAustralian GP 2026
\u00a9 McLaren<\/p>\n
Australian Grand Prix chief Travis Auld said just last month he would resist attempts to shift the opening race away from Albert Park.<\/p>\n
But multiple reports in Australia, including TV channels Nine and Sky Australia, now suggest Bahrain will reclaim the curtain-raiser position in 2027, with Saudi Arabia likely to follow and Melbourne pushed back to third.<\/p>\n
The move would again end Melbourne’s traditional role at the head of the calendar.<\/p>\n
The Australian GP opened the season almost continuously from 1995 to 2019, with only 2006 and 2010 breaking that run when Bahrain hosted the first race.<\/p>\n
However, that status has already been interrupted in recent years.<\/p>\n
Bahrain opened the seasons from 2021 to 2024, before Melbourne returned as the opener in 2025 and 2026.<\/p>\n
Logistics and the timing of Ramadan are again central to the latest reshuffle.<\/p>\n
With Ramadan ending in early March in 2027, Bahrain is well placed to host the opening race on March 14, aligning with pre-season testing in the region.<\/p>\n
Melbourne is instead expected to host the third round in early April, still complying with contractual obligations to stage one of the first three races of the season.<\/p>\n
Under its current deal, the Australian Grand Prix is guaranteed at least five season openers between 2025 and 2035, meaning further opportunities remain beyond 2027.<\/p>\n
Formula 1 has not yet released the 2027 calendar.<\/p>\n
(GMM)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"APRIL 29, 2026 Melbourne looks set to lose its place as Formula 1’s season opener from 2027, despite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1429,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2419,2338,2363,2389,2376,2327,2328,2371,1531,2413,2399,2346,186,2331,2285,2353,2384,2375,159,2322,2382,175,180,173,2323,2316,2321,2317,2349,2355,2373,2329,2330,2319,2386,2366,178,2387,2407,2392,2415,2365,2411,2318,2320,2341,2416,2354,2343,2333,2350,2337,2378,2348,174,2359,2418,2368,2357,177,2360,2345,2410,2412,2388,2342,176,260,2332,2400,2404,2374,2403,2362,2414,2409,2326,2379,184,2335,182,2367,2351,2370,2393,2325,2324,2395,179,2340,2358,2372,183,2408,2364,2401,188,2361,2334,2347,2402,2405,2417,2406,2397,2398,2380,2344,2396,2394,2352,296,2383,2390,193,2336,2339,2356,2391,2381,2377,2385,2369],"class_list":["post-1428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-abu-dhabi","tag-adrian-sutil","tag-albers","tag-alesi","tag-ammermuller","tag-autoracing","tag-autos","tag-badoer","tag-bahrain","tag-barcelona","tag-benetton","tag-bruno-senna","tag-button","tag-cars","tag-china","tag-david-coulthard","tag-davidson","tag-doornbos","tag-f1","tag-f1-racing","tag-fauzy","tag-felipe-massa","tag-fernando-alonso","tag-ferrari","tag-fia","tag-formula-1","tag-formula-one","tag-formula1","tag-giancarlo-fisichella","tag-gilles-villeneuve","tag-glock","tag-grand-prix","tag-grandprix","tag-grandprix-com","tag-hakkinen","tag-hamilton","tag-heikki-kovalainen","tag-hill","tag-hockenheim","tag-honda","tag-hungary","tag-ide","tag-indianapolis","tag-inside-f1","tag-insidef1-com","tag-jaime-alguesuari","tag-japan","tag-jaques-villeneuve","tag-jarno-trulli","tag-jenson-button","tag-juan-pablo-montoya","tag-kamui-kobayashi","tag-karthikeyan","tag-karun-chandhok","tag-kimi-raikkonen","tag-klien","tag-korea","tag-kovalainen","tag-kubica","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-liuzzi","tag-lucas-di-grassi","tag-magny-cours","tag-malaysia","tag-mansell","tag-mark-webber","tag-mclaren","tag-melbourne","tag-michael-schumacher","tag-minardi","tag-monaco","tag-montagny","tag-monte-carlo","tag-monteiro","tag-montreal","tag-monza","tag-motorsport","tag-nakajima","tag-nick-heidfeld","tag-nico-hulkenberg","tag-nico-rosberg","tag-paffett","tag-pedro-de-la-rosa","tag-piquet","tag-prost","tag-racing","tag-racingcars","tag-red-bull","tag-renault","tag-robert-kubica","tag-rosberg","tag-rossiter","tag-rubens-barrichello","tag-san-marino","tag-sato","tag-sauber","tag-schumacher","tag-scott-speed","tag-sebastian-vettel","tag-sebastien-buemi","tag-senna","tag-silverstone","tag-singapore","tag-spa","tag-spyker","tag-super-aguri","tag-sutil","tag-timo-glock","tag-toro-rosso","tag-toyota","tag-trulli","tag-turkey","tag-valles","tag-verstappen","tag-vettel","tag-vitaly-petrov","tag-vitantonio-liuzzi","tag-webber","tag-williams","tag-winkelhock","tag-wurz","tag-yamamoto","tag-zonta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}