The 2026 Formula 1 season officially begins this Thursday with the start of activities for the Australian GP, held at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne. The first cars take to the track later tonight Brasília time, marking the start of a new championship and the new technical generation of F1.
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FP1 for the Australian GP takes place this Thursday, March 05, at 22h30 (Brasília time, GMT -3). A few hours later, in the early hours of Friday, FP2 will be held at 02h00. The two sessions mark the teams’ first contact with the Australian circuit at the start of the season.
The schedule continues on Friday night with FP3, scheduled again for 22h30. On Saturday, March 07, qualifying takes place at 02h00, when the starting grid for the first race of the championship will be defined.
The race that opens the 2026 Formula 1 season will be held in the early hours of Sunday, March 08, with the start at 01h00 Brasília time.
Check out the full schedule for the Australian GP (Brasília time, GMT -3):
Thursday, March 05
Treino Livre 1 – 22h30
Friday, March 06
Treino Livre 2 – 02h00
Treino Livre 3 – 22h30
Saturday, March 07
Classificação – 02h00
Sunday, March 08
Corrida – 01h00
Brazilian fans will have several options to follow the season opener. F1MANIA.NET will provide real-time text coverage of all sessions of the weekend, following every moment directly from Albert Park.
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The broadcast with images will be provided by F1 TV Pro, which shows all Formula 1 sessions live. SporTV will also broadcast all weekend activities live, including practice, qualifying, and the race.
TV Globo, however, will only broadcast the Sunday race live, not broadcasting the other sessions of the Australian GP.
Thus, tonight’s first practice sessions officially mark the start of the 2026 Formula 1 season, which begins in Melbourne with expectations regarding the teams’ performance and the first signs of the category’s new technical era.
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