President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the Turkish Grand Prix will return to the Formula 1 calendar in 2027 under a new deal he said will last “at least five years.” The agreement, reached with Formula 1 and the Turkish Automobile Sports Federation, was presented at an event attended by Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem. The race is set to be held at Istanbul Park and is listed as the 24th event on a 2027 calendar that Formula 1 has capped at 24 rounds.

Sources said the reintroduction of Istanbul Park comes alongside the return of Portugal’s Algarve circuit and coincides with the Dutch Grand Prix not appearing on the 2027 calendar after its contract expired. The sources said Istanbul Park and the Algarve will replace this season’s rounds at Circuit de Catalunya and Zandvoort, and Circuit de Catalunya is scheduled to return in 2028 under a rotational arrangement. Officials warned the 24-race limit makes further new events unlikely until at least 2028, despite expressed interest from Argentina and Thailand and discussed concepts such as a Bangkok race and a pan-African Grand Prix that have not materialized into contracts.

Istanbul Park is a permanent circuit designed by Hermann Tilke that first joined the world championship in 2005 and last staged a round in 2021. The venue is known for its long, high-speed Turn 8 and its history of memorable races: Felipe Massa won there three times from 2006 to 2008, Lewis Hamilton clinched a record-equalling seventh world title at the rain-affected 2020 race, and Valtteri Bottas won the 2021 event. The 2027 running will be the 10th edition of the Turkish Grand Prix, and Formula 1 leadership publicly welcomed the track’s return.

The FIA has extended Free Practice 1 at the Miami Grand Prix from 60 minutes to 90 minutes and moved the session to 12:00–13:30 local time. The change followed a crunch meeting between Formula 1 and the FIA that produced a series of rule refinements after negative feedback from drivers and fans, and the FIA framed the extension as a sporting and logistical measure rather than a change to competitive formats.

Officials and organizers said the longer opening practice will give teams extra on-track time to reacclimatize and to evaluate setups and updates amid technical tweaks, including adjustments aimed at energy management in qualifying, race-start procedures and wet-weather rules. The extension also responds to confirmed tweaks to the 2026 engine regulations, which organizers say will alter power-unit behavior and require more running to adapt.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said improved simulation tools and closer collaboration with HPP, the power-unit partner referenced in sources, have helped teams better predict power-unit performance, but warned that “simulators can’t replicate every real-world scenario.” To accommodate the change, the FIA moved all track activity that precedes FP1 30 minutes earlier and organizers issued a revised timetable that advances other sessions, including Formula 2, by the same amount.

The rest of the Miami weekend schedule remains unchanged: Sprint Qualifying on Friday at 16:30, the Sprint on Saturday at 12:00, Saturday’s Grand Prix qualifying at 16:00 and the Grand Prix on Sunday at 16:00. The extended FP1 will be the first official F1 track session since the Japanese Grand Prix on March 29 after the cancellations of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian races; teams have used filming days and Pirelli tire tests for extra running. Heading into Miami, Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli leads the Drivers’ Championship and Mercedes tops the Constructors’ standings. The next event, Montreal, is in three weeks and is also a sprint weekend.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown warned that growing A/B-team links and common ownership in F1 threaten the sport’s competitive integrity and urged that such ties be reduced “as much as possible, as quickly as possible.” He said cross-team relationships should be limited to customer power-unit supply and that he raised the issue during Concorde Agreement discussions, summing up the risk bluntly: “A-B teams threaten sporting integrity.”

Brown cited several examples to illustrate his concern, including Daniel Ricciardo taking the fastest-lap point at the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix, the Aston Martin and Racing Point brake-duct intellectual property dispute, and rapid staff moves and compensatory deals that can distort competition and complicate cost-cap compliance.

He pointed to established technical and ownership links such as Red Bull’s dual ownership structure and Ferrari’s technical partnership with Haas, including shared gearboxes, rear suspension and hydraulic and electronic systems, as relationships that should be closely monitored and limited. The comments came amid reports that Mercedes was assessing a possible minority purchase of a 24% stake in Alpine, a move Brown said would deepen the A/B relationships he opposes. He explicitly criticized any Mercedes or Toto Wolff buy-in and said his stance “applies to anybody and everybody.” Mercedes and Wolff have said they would not intend to make Alpine a junior team. Brown also welcomed speculation that former Red Bull principal Christian Horner could return to F1, calling him “a great personality” and “a great operator,” and saying he would be “shocked” if Horner did not return to the sport, whether with Alpine or another team.