F1 will race again on the circuit that drivers call a roller coaster

Formula 1 will return to racing in Portugal in 2027, six years after the last visit to the country. The Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, in Portimão, will host the Portuguese Grand Prix in 2027 and 2028, and the event’s official page has already opened a waiting list for advance ticket sales.

The two-season agreement was announced by the category on December 16, 2025 and involves the Portuguese government, Turismo de Portugal and Parkalgar, the company that manages the circuit. The stage occupies the vacancy left by the Dutch GP in Zandvoort, which leaves the calendar after 2026.

Layout of blind corners and unevenness

Inaugurated in 2008, the Algarve circuit has 4.653 km and 15 corners, and is known for its altitude changes and blind corners, which make it difficult to read the layout. Drivers and teams compared the design to a roller coaster the two times F1 was there, in 2020 and 2021, when the pandemic forced the category to reassemble the calendar with alternative circuits.

Lewis Hamilton won both races. In October 2020, the triumph in Portimao was the Brit’s 92nd victory in F1, a mark that surpassed Michael Schumacher’s record. He is the only driver on the current grid who has ever won in the Algarve.

It was in Portugal that Senna won for the first time

The country’s relationship with the category is old. The first Portuguese Grand Prix was held in 1958, at the Boavista urban circuit, in Porto, followed by Monsanto, in Lisbon, in 1959, and again by Boavista in 1960. From 1984 to 1996, the race was held at the Estoril Autodrome, in Cascais.

It was there that Ayrton Senna won his first pole position and the first victory of his career, on April 21, 1985, under heavy rain, at the wheel of a Lotus. Portugal’s last regular race in the championship took place on September 22, 1996, also at Estoril, which left the calendar the following year due to the demands of modernization of safety and infrastructure and the difficulty of guaranteeing the investment within the deadlines charged by the category.

The 2027 and 2028 races will be the 19th and 20th editions of the Portuguese Grand Prix. The exact date of the race has not yet been set: the organization is finalizing the season calendar, and the expectation is that the stage will also inherit the period of the Dutch GP, held at the end of August.

In addition to general access tickets, there is an open waiting list for the hospitality experiences, including the Paddock Club.