According to the Prime Minister, the government has already secured the MotoGP motorcycle grand prix for 2025 and 2026, and that "everything is ready to formalise the return of Formula 1 motorsports to the Algarve in 2027."

"These events involve some financial effort on the part of the government, but they provide direct and indirect promotional returns that are truly worthwhile," he concluded.

Positive

The president of the Algarve Hotels and Tourism Enterprises Association (AHETA) has said that a potential return of Formula 1 to the region, announced by the Prime Minister, represents a "healthy business opportunity" with high international promotion for the destination.

"We welcome the hosting of a Formula 1 Grand Prix because for many hotels in the Algarve, the week the race was here was the best ever, especially for the higher-quality hotels," AHETA president Hélder Martins told Lusa.

The Prime Minister had announced that the Government has "everything ready to formalize the return" of the Formula 1 World Championship to the Algarve in 2027, after having guaranteed the MotoGP Grand Prix to be held in 2025 and 2026 at the Algarve International Autodrome (AIA) in Portimão, which has hosted the competition continuously since 2020.

For the president of the largest hoteliers' association in the Algarve, in addition to the promotional opportunity that "an event of this magnitude represents for tourism in the region, the business opportunity is always healthy."

According to Hélder Martins, hoteliers are unaware of the details of the process, "except for what the Prime Minister conveyed" during his speech. "I believe the process would have been finalized on Thursday and that [the Prime Minister's] statement means that Formula 1 is guaranteed in 2027," he noted.

Contacted by Lusa, AIA's commercial director, Miguel Praia, said that "at the moment, it is not possible to add any further information to the Prime Minister's statement." "The AIA has always maintained an open channel with Formula 1, a movement initiated by our Paulo Pinheiro [the founder of the Algarve circuit, who passed away in July 2024]," said Miguel Praia.

Lusa also attempted to obtain a response from the Algarve Tourism Board to Luís Montenegro's announcement, but this has not yet been possible.

The Portimão circuit in the Algarve hosted two Formula 1 World Championship races in 2020 and 2021, benefiting from restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic in some countries, 24 years after the last race of the flagship motorsport event, which took place at the Estoril Raceway in 1996.

Portugal has hosted a Formula 1 World Championship Grand Prix 18 times, initially at the Boavista street circuit in Porto in 1958, then the following year at Monsanto in Lisbon, before returning to the calendar in 1984 at Estoril in Cascais, where it remained until 1996.