Melbourne is set to be bumped from its prime spot on the Formula One calendar, with the Australian Grand Prix expected to run as the third race in 2027.<\/p>\n
Bahrain is expected to resume hosting the season opener, with Saudi Arabia to follow, pushing Melbourne back to third on the 2027 calendar and into an early April slot.<\/p>\n
The Albert Park race regularly kicked off the season from 1995 to 2019 and had returned as the opening round for the past two years.<\/p>\n
Bahrain\u2019s absence from the opening round in 2024 was due to the timing of Ramadan, a factor which will not impact the 2027 season as it concludes a week before racing begins on March 14.<\/p>\n
Planet F1 reports that Bahrain is expected to return as the season opener, a move which aligns with its role as the host of pre-season testing.<\/p>\n
Melbourne is now tipped to host Round 3 on April 4, following the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
While the race remains locked in for Melbourne, the change removes the added exposure which comes with launching the global season.<\/p>\n
After Melbourne, teams are expected to travel through Asia, with races in China and Japan before the calendar shifts to North America for Miami and Canada in May.<\/p>\n
Last week, Formula One confirmed the Turkish Grand Prix will return in Istanbul under a new five-year agreement extending through to 2031.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the 2026 season resumes this weekend in Miami after a five-week break.<\/p>\n
Drivers have not been on the track since the Japanese Grand Prix on March 29, following the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian rounds due to conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Mercedes teenager Kimi Antonelli holds a nine-point lead in the Drivers\u2019 Championship over teammate George Russell after winning two of the opening three races.<\/p>\n
Australian driver Oscar Piastri rebounded from early setbacks in Melbourne and China to secure second place in Suzuka.<\/p>\n
Defending champion Lando Norris and four-time title winner Max Verstappen are still searching for their first podium finishes of the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Melbourne is set to be bumped from its prime spot on the Formula One calendar, with the Australian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1529,1531,159,260,1530,261],"class_list":{"0":"post-757","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-melbourne","8":"tag-australian-grand-prix","9":"tag-bahrain","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-melbourne","12":"tag-planet-f1","13":"tag-sport"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757","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=757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}