Bahrain is set to take the opening round on the F1 2027 calendar, pushing the Australian Grand Prix off the traditional Round 1 slot it has filled in recent years. The Australian Grand Prix is not expected to be Round 1 of the F1 2027 season after Melbourne served as the season-opener for the past two seasons.
The change is driven as much by dates as by contracts. Ramadan is slated to conclude on March 7, and Bahrain could resume its place at the very start of the season on March 14. That would mark the first time the Gulf state has opened the championship since 2024, when Bahrain last hosted the first race. At the same time, the most recent hosting contract gave the Australian Grand Prix Corporation five opening round slots: two of those slots have already been used and three opening round slots remain between 2027 and 2035. Under the terms of that contract, Australia must host one of the first three events of the season.
Those figures matter because the early shape of the F1 2027 calendar is being formed by contractual clauses, logistical patterns and the timing of Ramadan. Bahrain has often been host of Round 1, following pre-season testing in the Gulf state, and Melbourne’s recent role as opener has been described as a by-product of Ramadan and Australia’s contract. From 1995 until 2019 Albert Park was the default starting point for the season on all but two occasions; the 2020 event was cancelled and Albert Park subsequently lost that unquestioned position.
With Bahrain eyed for March 14, Australia is likely to emerge on April 4 to begin a three-race swing through Asia. China would follow a week later, with Japan scheduled on April 25, before the championship heads Stateside for the Miami Grand Prix and the Canadian Grand Prix. That sequence preserves one of Australia’s remaining opening slots but also concentrates key races in a tight window, testing logistics and the Australian Grand Prix Corporation’s remaining contractual leeway.
The friction is clear: the contract obliges Australia to be among the first three events, yet Bahrain’s return to the front of the calendar and the Ramadan timeline push other national events into early April. Calendar makers must balance those binding contract terms with travel flow, clashing regional calendars and the long-standing practice of Gulf pre-season work that typically favors a Bahrain opener.
The single pressing question now is whether the final 2027 schedule will place Australia inside the first three events as its contract requires, or whether the shift back to Bahrain as Round 1 will force a compromise over which of Australia’s remaining three opening slots gets used between 2027 and 2035. That decision—between contractual promise and a calendar shaped by Ramadan and logistics—will determine whether Melbourne returns to an early-season spotlight or settles later into the Asia swing beginning in April.
