Formula 1 returns to Portugal in 2027 and 2028

It’s official: Formula 1 is returning to Portugal. On the official page of the world’s largest motor racing competition on social network X, it was announced that, “under a two-year agreement, the Algarve International Circuit will be back on the F1 calendar”. Portugal will therefore be back on the race calendar in 2027 and 2028.

With a short Formula 1 video at the start of the press conference, the Minister of Economy and Territorial Cohesion summed it up: “The announcement has been made”. The announcement was made at the same time in London. An agreement was reached last week between the International Automobile Federation (FIA) and the Secretary of State for Tourism, who travelled to London to conclude the negotiations. The date of the Grand Prix will only be known in June 2026, when the 2027 World Championship calendar is set, and it is expected to be part of the European “season” during the spring.

Negotiations began several months ago. In August, the Prime Minister made an initial statement on the subject, revealing at the time the possibility that this sport could return to Portugal. Portimão is thus the city chosen to host the Formula 1 races.

Emphasising the “good news” for the country, the Minister of Economy stressed that the return of F1 will have an “economic impact of no less than €140 million” each year, as “around 200,000 visitors are expected each year: 150,000 spectators, more than half of whom will be international, and the involvement of more than 50,000 professionals”.

Manuel Castro Almeida also assured that “the costs to the Portuguese State are lower than the expected revenue from tax on the associated economic activity”. Explaining that he cannot give details about the compensation, as there are still countries negotiating with the FIA, the Minister of Economy stated that Portugal “naturally offers important compensation as a qualified destination, with an excellent racetrack, with unusual characteristics and a distinctive factor”. But he gave his assurance: “The financial involvement is not significant and will be offset by the taxes that will be collected”.

When asked directly at a press conference whether the costs of this event would exceed €50 million, Castro Almeida simply said that they would be less than this amount over the two years, but insisted that “there will be no negative impact on the national economy”.

The government emphasised the importance of the news for Portuguese tourism and the fact that it is proof of the country’s “dynamism”, which now “joins the select group of countries that can host” this sport.

The Minister of Economy also noted that it will be a “great opportunity for the Algarve as a diversified destination” and an “excellent promotion of Portugal’s image to almost a billion people”. He alluded to a country with “the capacity to attract more demanding events on a global scale”.

According to Castro Almeida, each Grand Prix has around 900 million followers over four thousand hours of television broadcasts.

Given this high number of viewers and questioned about the impact of congestion at Lisbon airport, he acknowledged that “if in 2027 everything were as it is today, it would be a serious problem”. However, he added his “conviction that the situation regarding arrivals will be much better” by then.

These will be the 19th and 20th editions of the Portuguese Grand Prix, once again in the Algarve, after the initial races (in 1958 and 1960) at the Boavista circuit in Porto; the 1959 race in Monsanto, Lisbon; and between 1984 and 1996 at the Estoril Autodrome in Cascais.

Formula 1 returned to Portugal in 2020, after a 24-year absence from the World Championship, following the reorganisation of the calendars due to the Covid-19 pandemic, for the first of two editions in Portimão, which will return to the World Championship.

Britain’s Lewis Hamilton, seven-time world champion, then with the Mercedes team, won the last two races on Portuguese soil.

Studying the best way to make the Estoril Autodrome profitable

On the other hand, the Minister of Economy explained that the Estoril Autodrome was not being considered in the negotiations that took place with the FIA.

In an interview with Jornal de Negócios on Monday, the Mayor of Cascais revealed that he had proposed to Parpública that it manage the Estoril Circuit for €12.5 million for a period of up to 75 years.

The local authority has drawn up a plan which, if the proposal is accepted, will involve a public tender to attract private investment of €150 million with the aim of bringing Formula 1 back to the racetrack, which entered the public sphere in 1997.

Regarding this possibility, Castro Almeida explained that negotiations “have been ongoing for many months” and that “talks with the FIA began long before” Estoril became an option. “It was not a possibility” for 2028, he stresses.

But “we may have talks with the Cascais council at a later date”, he added.