How many races are in an F1 season: races per year and the calendar

How many races are in a season

Since 2021 a Formula 1 season has had 22 to 24 rounds. A round is a Grand Prix weekend: practice, qualifying and a race that counts towards the World Championship. How such a weekend works is explained in the chapter for beginners.

Formula 1 and the FIA announced the 2026 calendar on 10 June 2025: 24 rounds, from Australia on 8 March to Abu Dhabi on 6 December. On 14 March 2026 Formula 1 said that, due to the ongoing situation in the Middle East region, the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix would not take place in April. It also said that no substitutions would be made in April.

On 26 July 2026 Formula 1 and the FIA announced that the Bahrain Grand Prix would be held on 4 October at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia. The announcement made it subject to final agreements and official sign-off, including the approval of the FIA World Motor Sport Council. As of 29 September the round is on the championship calendar on the FIA website, and the calendar has 23 rounds in all, 15 of which have been run. The dates and times of every session are in the season calendar.

Do sprints count

No, a sprint isn’t a separate round. It is a short race of just over 100 km, held on the second day of some weekends, and its points also count towards the championship. There were six sprints in both 2024 and 2025, so, counting the Grands Prix, each of those seasons had 30 races.

There are six sprint weekends in 2026 as well: Shanghai, Miami, Montreal, Silverstone, Zandvoort and Singapore. On the calendar as of 29 September 2026, the season has 29 races including the sprints. How the sprint came about and how it has changed since 2021 is covered in the sprint article.

How many rounds the rules allow

No more than 24 and no fewer than eight: that is what the FIA’s 2026 regulations say. So the record set in 2024 and 2025 is also the ceiling: a 25th round can’t be added without changing the rules.

The limit was raised as the calendar grew: in 2021 the regulations allowed 23 rounds, and from 2022, 24. The calendar is announced by Formula 1 and the FIA and approved by the FIA World Motor Sport Council. The FIA publishes the list of rounds for the coming year before 1 January.

How the calendar has grown since 1950

The first championship, in 1950, had seven races: six Grands Prix in Europe and the American Indianapolis 500, which was part of the World Championship from 1950 to 1960. How that season went is covered in the article on the first race.

The calendar grew in spurts. This is when a season first had at least a given number of rounds:

The most common number of rounds is 16: 18 seasons between 1976 and 2003 had that many, 11 of them in a row, from 1984 to 1994. And no season had 23 rounds before 2026: in 2024 the calendar went straight from 22 to 24.

The biggest drop came in 2020: 17 rounds, after 21 the year before. The calendar was rebuilt because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the season didn’t start until 5 July. A year later there were 22 rounds.

How many races have there been in F1

From 1950 to 2025 the World Championship held 1,149 races, 11 of them the Indianapolis 500. With the 15 rounds of the 2026 season run by 29 September, the total is 1,164.

Only two Grands Prix have been held every season since 1950, the Italian and the British: by 2025 each had been run 76 times. The Monaco Grand Prix had been held 71 times by then. Monza has hosted more races than any other circuit: 75 from 1950 to 2025.

In all, from 1950 to 2025 the championship raced in 34 countries and at 77 circuits. On the 2026 calendar the rounds are held in 20 countries, and one of the circuits is new: Madring in Madrid.

How long does a season last

About nine months, from March to December. In 2025 the first race was held in Australia on 16 March and the last in Abu Dhabi on 7 December. The 2026 season also began in Australia, on 8 March, and is scheduled to end in Abu Dhabi on 6 December.

Before the first race the cars are run in pre-season testing. For 2026 Formula 1 and the FIA scheduled three tests: a private one in Barcelona on 26–30 January and two in Bahrain, on 11–13 and 18–20 February.

There is a break in the summer: in 2026 four weeks passed between the Hungarian Grand Prix on 26 July and the Dutch Grand Prix on 23 August. The regulations require teams to shut down their factories for 14 consecutive days in July or August, with no development, production or wind tunnel testing. Another nine such days start on 24 December.

How long a single race lasts is covered in the article “How long is an F1 race?”.