Ranked: All the venues that have hosted an F1 season opener

Elizabeth Blackstock 10 Mar 2025 8:15 AM

1966 formula 1 season opener monaco grand prix planetf1

The Monaco Grand Prix served as a Formula 1 season opener a handful of times.

The Formula 1 season is finally here, with the Australian Grand Prix kicking off the highly anticipated F1 2025 season — but Albert Park isn’t the only track to host a season opener.

We’re ranking the 14 circuits that have served as a season-opening event for Formula 1, from 1950 all the way to 2025.

Every venue that has hosted the opening round of a Formula 1 season, ranked

14. Phoenix Street Circuit

Location: Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Years this venue hosted an F1 opener: 1990-1991
Notable winners: Ayrton Senna

Name a more uninspired circuit layout than the one dreamed up for the Phoenix street circuit — an event that opened the Formula 1 season in 1990 and 1991. It is perhaps a blessing that this track was cut from the calendar so quickly.

13. Silverstone Circuit

Location: Silverstone, Northamptonshire, United Kingsdm
Years this venue hosted an F1 opener: 1950
Notable winners: Nino Farina

Is it sacrilegious to rank Silverstone so low on the list of season openers considering it was the first race ever held to commemorate the Formula 1 World Championship? Perhaps. It earns a low rating nevertheless thanks to its flat, featureless expanses marked out by hay bales, and for the fact that only Alfa Romeo finished on the lead lap.

12. Prince George Circuit

Location: East London, South Africa
Years this venue hosted an F1 opener: 1965
Notable winners: Jim Clark

The Prince George Circuit only appeared once on the F1 calendar as a season opener, and only a handful of other times after that. It drew together a late-1930s Grand Prix circuit and more modern facilities, but it never quite made a splash as a season opener.

11. Long Beach

Location: Long Beach, California, USA
Years this venue hosted an F1 opener: 1981
Notable winners: Alan Jones

If a party atmosphere is what you’re after for your F1 season openers, then you’d have found that in spades at Long Beach in 1981. The tight confines of the track led to some argy bargy at the start that soon settled into a slew of retirements.

10. Circuit Bremgarten

Location: Bern, Switzerland
Years this venue hosted an F1 opener: 1951-1952
Notable winners: Juan Manuel Fangio, Piero Taruffi

While my vintage F1-loving heart wants to rank Bremgarten much higher, I can’t imagine a more dismal location for a season opener than this cobblestoned circuit in Switzerland that was known for its tricky layout, poor weather conditions, and danger.

9. Bahrain International Circuit

Location: Sakhir, Bahrain
Years this venue hosted an F1 opener: 2006, 2010, 2021-2024
Notable winners: Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen

The most modern circuit on the list, Bahrain International has become a regular host for F1’s season openers in recent years. Bahrain built this track as a way to impress on the international sporting stage, giving it decent amenities and layout, but there remains something somewhat sterile about the event.

8. Jacarepagua (or Autodromo Internacional Nelson Piquet)

Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Years this venue hosted an F1 opener: 1983-1989
Notable winners: Nelson Piquet, Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell

A classic Brazilian venue tucked into the shadow of the mountains, Jacarepagua only hosted a handful of season openers — but it was a stunning and competitive venue. Unfortunately, the track has been demolished, discounting any chance of a return.

More classic Formula 1 venues:

👉 Juan Manuel Fangio’s ‘drive of his life’ at the 1957 German Grand Prix

👉 Tragedy in Austria: The death of Mark Donohue, an end to Penske’s Formula 1 team

7. Red Bull Ring

Location: Spielberg, Austria
Years this venue hosted an F1 opener: 2020
Notable winners: Valtteri Bottas

The Red Bull Ring only hosted a Formula 1 opener during COVID, when an isolated European venue was necessary to kickstart a shortened championship. It was a strong race, hinting at what the series could look like should it return to a European opener — but the growing length of the calendar has largely precluded that in the modern era.

6. Circuit Zandvoort

Location: Zandvoort, North Holland, Netherlands
Years this venue hosted an F1 opener: 1962
Notable winners: Graham Hill

The windy, sweeping Circuit Zandvoort hosted just one F1 season opener back in 1962, and much like with the Red Bull Ring, it would certainly make for a compelling start to the year — but the confines of the modern schedule make that impossible.

5. Circuit de Monaco

Location: Monte Carlo, Monaco
Years this venue hosted an F1 opener: 1959, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1966
Notable winners: Jack Brabham, Stirling Moss, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart

The Monaco Grand Prix has hosted Formula 1’s season opener five different times in the 1950s and 1960s — and few venues are more impressive for that exact purpose. As the calendar grew, Monaco’s traditional May date saw the event become one of the later events of the year.

4. Albert Park Circuit

Location: Melbourne, Australia
Years this venue hosted an F1 opener: 1996-2005, 2007-2009, 2011-2019, 2025
Notable winners: Damon Hill, David Coulthard, Mika Hakkinen, Michael Schumacher, Giancarlo Fisichella, Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg, Valtteri Bottas

For many modern Formula 1 fans, no track says “season opener” quite like Albert Park in Australia. A street circuit in the midst of a public park, it has hosted some exceptional season kick-offs.

3. Autodromo Oscar y Juan Galvez

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Years this venue hosted an F1 opener: 1953-1958, 1960, 1972-1975, 1977-1980
Notable winners: Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss, Bruce McLaren, Jackie Stewart, Emerson Fittipaldi, Denny Hulme, Jody Scheckter, Mario Andretti, Jacques Lafitte, Alan Jones

When Argentina was first added to the Formula 1 calendar in the 1950s, it almost had to be the season opener; to ship all the cars and supplies out to South America, F1 needed to rely on slow-moving shipping routes, which largely precluded the race from taking place at any other point in the year. Still, it was a gorgeous track, and a massively festive way to kick off the start of a new year.

2. Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit

Location: Midrand, Gauteng, South Africa
Years this venue hosted an F1 opener: 1967-1971, 1982, 1992-1993
Notable winners: Pedro Rodriguez, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Jack Brabham, Mario Andretti, Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell

Much like with Argentina, the South African Grand Prix was a regular season opener during an era where shipping supplies overseas was a much more daunting prospect than it is today. The original version is largely the one I’m thinking of here, with the post-apartheid revival taking place on a more boring circuit.

1. Interlagos (or Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace)

Location: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Years this venue hosted an F1 opener: 1976, 1994-1995
Notable winners: Niki Lauda, Michael Schumacher

Interlagos is one of the most exciting race tracks in the world – one of those events that can pair exciting racing with an equally exciting venue. This track only opened the F1 calendar three times in the sport’s 75-year history, but that doesn’t make it any less of a joy.