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F1 is preparing to expand its Sprint schedule in 2027, with CEO Stefano Domenicali saying the sport wants to give fans more action across the full weekend. Speaking during the British GP weekend at Silverstone, he said the Sprint format has boosted interest in F1 and that the next calendar is expected to be announced soon. Reports have suggested the number of Sprint weekends could rise to nine or 10 in 2027, up from six, although Domenicali did not confirm a final figure.

Domenicali pointed to Silverstone’s strong turnout, including 150,000 fans on Friday, as evidence that Sprint weekends can attract crowds beyond race day. He said F1 has a responsibility to be bold and think out of the box, and described the Sprint concept as a successful part of the sport’s event strategy. First introduced at the 2021 British GP, the format adds Friday qualifying, a Saturday Sprint race and a shorter build-up to Sunday’s Grand Prix.

Wider calendar changes are also being considered for 2027. One report said the season could grow to 34 races if Sprint weekends rise to as many as 10 while the Grand Prix total stays at 24. The reports also said Zandvoort is expected to drop off the schedule, while Portugal and Turkey are already confirmed to return. Barcelona is expected to alternate with Belgium before coming back in 2028, with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia also set to return.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur urged restraint after Charles Leclerc’s British Grand Prix win at Silverstone, saying the team should treat its progress race by race rather than talk about a championship push. Ferrari’s first win of the 2026 season was also its 250th Formula 1 victory, and Vasseur said the team is still improving step by step through the SF-26 rather than operating at title-winning level. Ferrari’s double podium, with Lewis Hamilton third, lifted its position in both championships, but Vasseur said the focus has already shifted to Spa-Francorchamps.

Leclerc said the result meant a great deal after a difficult run that included crashes in Monaco and a qualifying setback in Barcelona, which had led to criticism of his form. He said there had been negativity and narratives being created around him, but he had stayed confident that he had not suddenly become a bad driver. Leclerc said Ferrari had changed the car’s feel and it had taken longer than expected to get back to his preferred level, calling the Silverstone weekend a morale-boosting recovery.

On track, Leclerc took the lead at the start and held on for his first victory since the 2024 United States Grand Prix. Antonelli’s car developed issues that ended his challenge, and a late safety car also helped Leclerc keep control to the finish. Hamilton recovered to third after an early penalty, while Leclerc said Ferrari had made a strong start at Silverstone after focusing on improving its launch procedure following a poor sprint start on Saturday.

Formula 1 plans to decide before its August summer break whether it can restore one of two Middle East races removed from the 2026 calendar, with Bahrain emerging as the leading candidate. The Bahrain Grand Prix was originally scheduled for April before it was canceled amid the conflict involving the US, Israel and Iran. If it returns, it would most likely fill the only practical opening on the calendar, the one-week gap between the Azerbaijan and Singapore Grands Prix in early October, with possible dates cited as Oct. 2-4 or Oct. 4. That would lift the 2026 schedule from 22 races to 23, leaving it one race short of the original 24-round plan.

Formula 1 president and CEO Stefano Domenicali said any announcement would depend on “the right timing and conditions” and had to come before the break after the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 26 because of logistics. Domenicali said the sport wants to proceed as planned if the security situation allows. A late Bahrain addition would leave nine races to be run in 11 weeks and create another triple-header late in the season.

The series is also monitoring the season-ending races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, which are set for Nov. 27-29 and Dec. 4-6. F1 has drawn up contingency plans in case either event cannot stay on the schedule, and Portimao in Portugal has been identified as the backup venue. Portimao would serve as an emergency replacement and a possible test run ahead of its planned return to the calendar in 2027, with a final deadline for backup plans expected in mid-September.

Charles Leclerc won the 2026 British Grand Prix at Silverstone for Ferrari, finishing the 52-lap race in 1:27:11.335. George Russell took second for Mercedes, 0.427 seconds behind, and Lewis Hamilton finished third in the other Ferrari, 0.772 seconds back. Leclerc’s victory was his first of the Formula 1 season, his first at Silverstone and ended an 18-month wait for a win. Max Verstappen retired after crashing at Stowe, and the safety car period that followed helped shape the result. Lando Norris finished fourth, Isack Hadjar fifth and Liam Lawson sixth, while Oscar Piastri ended up 11th. Alexander Albon and Nico Hülkenberg did not finish.

The race followed a weekend in which Kimi Antonelli won Saturday’s Sprint and took pole position for the Grand Prix. Antonelli lost ground after a poor start and the Ferrari drivers moved ahead early, with Hamilton starting third on the grid behind Antonelli and Leclerc. Hamilton also faced an FIA investigation before the race over an alleged yellow-flag safety breach. Pierre Gasly’s three-place grid penalty changed the starting order, while Russell lined up fourth, Hadjar fifth, Norris sixth, Verstappen seventh and Piastri eighth.

Silverstone drew about 564,000 spectators across the weekend, a new British Grand Prix record, as the event mixed racing with music, comedy, camping and fan activities. Pirelli had predicted a one-stop race on the medium-to-hard tire sequence, but lower-than-expected degradation and the Verstappen safety car made strategy less straightforward. The circuit’s fast corners and limited heavy-braking zones also fed into the weekend-long debate about energy management under Formula 1’s 2026 rules.

Max Verstappen’s frustration with Red Bull deepened at the British Grand Prix after he said a recurring rear-wing fault caused his crash at Stowe and left the car feeling dangerous. Verstappen said the wing was not fully attaching and that the sudden loss of downforce at high speed could have injured him, calling the situation a repeat of the issue he had already seen in Austria. He said he was “fed up” with Red Bull’s ongoing technical problems, including power unit, balance and top-speed issues, and said the car did not have genuine race-winning pace, especially on hard tires.

The tension grew before the race when Red Bull declined Verstappen’s request to start from the pit lane and change the setup after an engine-related problem was detected. Verstappen qualified seventh, briefly moved up the order as other drivers ran into trouble and was running third before the spin ended his race late on. He said any talk of a podium did not reflect the car’s underlying pace, and he pointed to penalties and mechanical problems for Lewis Hamilton, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli as the only reason he had been in contention.

Verstappen said he needed several days to reset before the Belgian Grand Prix and did not want to speak with Red Bull management immediately before Spa-Francorchamps. The British Grand Prix retirement was his third of the season, and he was seventh in the standings afterward with 76 points, 103 behind leader Kimi Antonelli. De Telegraaf reported that tension is growing because Verstappen is not committing to Red Bull and wants more control over his future, while Verstappen declined to discuss whether the team’s upgrade package would affect his plans for 2027.

Carlos Sainz received an unusual post-race one-lap penalty after the British Grand Prix, after stewards said Williams had incorrectly allowed him to unlap himself during a late safety car period at Silverstone. Sainz had finished 12th on the road, but the ruling dropped him to 17th in the final classification. Officials said he was not entitled to overtake the safety car when the race control message for lapped cars to pass was issued, and the FIA said an earlier “Safety Car In This Lap” signal had been triggered by a software error.

The confusion came after Max Verstappen crashed late in the race and the safety car reshuffled the running order. Stewards said Silverstone’s pit lane layout helped create the mix-up, and Williams said it had made two mistakes in interpreting Sainz’s lapped status and the race control instructions. The team said it had inadvertently gained a lap it was not entitled to take. Stewards ruled that Sainz was still technically a lapped car at the relevant moment.

Charles Leclerc won the race for Ferrari, with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton behind him on the podium. The penalty was described as highly unusual and was believed to be the first of its kind since Ricardo Zunino in 1981, with some reports saying it made Sainz the first Formula 1 driver to have a lap added to his final classification as a penalty.