Formula One will return to Melbourne in March 2026 as the opening round of next year's calendar, which will again feature 24 Grands Prix.
Next year's Australian Grand Prix will again be the opening race of the Formula One calendar, when cars hit the track from March 6 to 8, 2026.
Formula One cars will race over 24 weekends next year – matching 2025 for the most Grands Prix in a season – concluding at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi from December 4 to 6.
It is the second consecutive year the Australian Grand Prix will lead the F1 calendar, its long-held place prior to the COVID-19 pandemic that led to the race's cancellation in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
A deal signed between Australian GP organisers and Formula One officials in mid-2022 guarantees Albert Park the prime spot on the calendar on at least five occasions between 2023 and 2035.
In 2026, the Ramadan holiday falls between mid-February and mid-March, requiring the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix to be pushed into April.
"Information on ticket sales for the Formula 1 Qatar Airways Australian Grand Prix 2026 will be released in the coming weeks at grandprix.com.au," organisers said in a media statement today.
Melbourne will be followed by the Chinese Grand Prix from March 13-15, and the Japanese Grand Prix from March 27-29.
Formula One officials have promised "further improvements to the geographical flow of races," which includes placing the Canadian Grand Prix before the Miami Grand Prix in mid-May, to enable "significant freight efficiencies as some equipment can move directly from one event to the other."
The Formula One grid will move to Europe from June to September, before returning to Asia in September/October, and then the Americas and the Middle East to close out the year.
New for the 2026 calendar is the Madrid Grand Prix from September 11-13 – pending final approval of the new circuit, which is under construction– which will run alongside the traditional Spanish GP at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit in June for a single year before the latter is dropped for 2027.
Missing from the 2026 calendar is a race in Imola, Italy, while next year will be the final running of the Dutch Grand Prix.
The 2025 Australian Grand Prix was the most-attended in the event's Melbourne history, recording an estimated 465,498 fans through the doors over the weekend, including Thursday's media day (not included in the dates below).
"The Formula 1 calendar announcement is always an exciting moment, and in the coming weeks we will be sharing on-sale dates for tickets to the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix 2026, which we know will be eagerly anticipated," Australian Grand Prix Corporation CEO Travis Auld said in a media statement.
"There is something special about being the first race of the season, and we’re looking forward to sharing that with hundreds of thousands of fans once again in 2026."
2026 Formula One calendar
Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
