F1's 'insane' Monaco Sprint plan for 2027 is actually genius for one reason

10:08, Wed, Sep 16, 2026 Updated: 10:08, Wed, Sep 16, 2026

The Monaco Grand Prix will be a Sprint event in 2027 (Image: Getty)

The Formula 1 online universe went into meltdown on Tuesday evening when the news was leaked that the Monaco Grand Prix, famous for its dull racing, will be holding two next year. For the first time, the glamourous Monte Carlo event has been selected to hold a Sprint race, one of 10 on the 2027 calendar as bosses expand the format further.

But the choice to hold one at Monaco in particular is... a bold one, no doubt. Even before it was made official this morning, social media websites were awash with fans questioning why on earth the sport would want to put on two races at a venue where the one we previously had was boring enough.

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And that's a fair point. The Monaco Sprint race next year will not be one for the ages, we can predict that already. That said, will it be any less interesting than an hour of practice, from a spectator point of view? No. So we're not actually losing anything.

In fact, fans are actually gaining from this admittedly left-field but actually rather good idea. Because qualifying day in Monaco is one of the very best days of the season – 22 drivers getting as close to the walls as they dare as they chase every millisecond they can find, knowing that the lack of overtaking the following days means rich rewards for a spectacular qualifying performance.

And, in 2027, we have two of those sessions! Excellent news. Sure, the extra race means nothing – we'll just get back-to-back processions masquerading as 'races' on the streets of Monte Carlo. But they'll need to set the grid for that second race and that means another qualifying session. So, by doing this, F1 bosses have made sure Saturday is no longer the only interesting day of the race weekend.

F1 and the FIA can be easy targets sometimes, and they don't help themselves. Last Sunday we had more evidence of some questionable decision making when the sport raced for the first time on the new Madring track that was specially-created to take over the hosting of the Spanish Grand Prix, only to find that overtaking is virtually impossible because of some terrible design choices.

But despite the online uproar, despite fans labelling the idea of making Monaco a Sprint event as "stupid" and "insane" – and those are some of the kindest adjectives I could find – this really actually is one of their better ideas. We're getting an extra, thrilling qualifying session, and we're losing nothing to get it, other than a couple of practice sessions. And, other than the teams, who cares about those?

Elsewhere on the 2027 calendar, all four Middle East races are included with three of them designated Sprint events, Saudi Arabia being the exception. They are included because, contractually, they have to be. Like this year, they will be cancelled or moved to somewhere safer if, closer to the time, it is deemed impossible to race in any of those countries due to ongoing conflict in the region.

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