Which 2026 Formula 1 Race Should You Attend? The Ultimate F1 Ticket Guide

General Admission or Grandstand?

This is probably one of the first questions you’ll be asking yourself when it comes to F1 tickets. And your answer will likely come down to your budget. For the 2026 F1 season, the median prices of three-day General Admission (GA) and grandstand passes are approximately:

• GA: $250
• Grandstand: $600

So if you are on a tighter budget, GA might be the preferred ticket type for you, whereas if you have a little more to spend, a grandstand seat could be worth it (be sure to check out our guides for more information on each of these ticket types).

While $350 may seem like a pretty big difference between the two, these are just median numbers. It is definitely possible to find far more expensive GA tickets, as well as much more affordable grandstand seats on the calendar. Below is a breakdown of how GA and grandstand prices compare across each of the 24 F1 races on the 2026 schedule.

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When is an upgrade from General Admission to Grandstand worth it?

As you can see from the graph above, not all races have a massive price difference between GA and grandstands. Sure, when it comes to the likes of Monaco and even Las Vegas, GA is far more accessible, but there are plenty of races with just a small price bump from GA to the grandstands. And for those races, paying for the upgrade may just be worth it.

The three races with the smallest difference in price between a three-day GA and grandstand pass are:

• Belgian GP:
  
  • GA: $239.85
  • Cheapest grandstand (Area 17-27 Blanchimont): $245.70
  • Difference: $5.85
• Canadian GP:
  
  • GA: $291.10
  • Cheapest grandstand (Grandstand 47): $312.4
  • Difference: $21.30
• Japanese GP:
  
  • GA: $118.80
  • Cheapest grandstand (G-2 Overpass): $145.20
  • Difference: $26.40

For just $5.85 extra, the Belgian Grand Prix is absolutely worth the upgrade. Of note, the seating in the Area 17-27 Blanchimont grandstand is unassigned, so it feels a little more like a hybrid between GA and grandstand seating. That said, you are guaranteed a seat from which you will have a clear view of the track, which will definitely elevate your experience at Spa-Francorchamps.

The Canadian Grand Prix is another race where upgrading seems worth it. For just $21.30 extra, you can find yourself sitting along the beginning of the Casino Straight, which leads right into the pit, and is an excellent vantage point to see some exciting racing action. 

And lastly, the Japanese Grand Prix offers another great opportunity for a treat-yourself moment in the grandstands, particularly for those working with a tighter budget. The overall least expensive of the above three races, the Suzuka Circuit spectacle asks for only $26.40 extra to upgrade from GA to a seat in the G2 grandstands right at the unique overpass area of the track. 

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One thing to note about both the Chinese Grand Prix is that its GA areas do have newly built grandstand type seating, and are sold as Grandstand C, F and J. These seats are, however, un-assigned and are much less expensive than standard grandstand seats. The next-highest tier in grandstand seating at the Shanghai Circuit (Grandstands H and K) comes to $207.20, a difference of $140. For that reason, we did not include it among the three races above, despite there appearing to be no difference in price between GA and grandstand seating in our graph.

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Which part of the 2026 F1 calendar to target?

One thing you may notice is that grand prix prices steadily creep up as the year goes on. In fact, four of the five most expensive races on the calendar are all in the final third of the season, those being the Singapore, United States, Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix. 

Meanwhile, some of the least expensive races of the year are quite early on, such as the Chinese, Japanese and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix, all of which have much more affordable prices for both GA and grandstand passes.

With that in mind, if you are looking to minimize how much you spend on F1 tickets, aiming for a race earlier in the year might give you more options to choose from. This is just a trend, and not rule, however, with the most expensive race (Monaco) being in the first half of the year, and one of the least expensive races (São Paulo) being rather late.

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Suggestions for different budgets

Let's say you want to keep your spending to about $250. In that case, going for a general admission seat opens you up to a majority of the races on the 2026 calendar. This, in turn, gives you the widest breadth of options if you want to minimize spending in other areas, such as travel, because you are more likely to be able to attend a race located close to you. 

If you do want to go for a seated ticket, the Japanese ($118.80 minimum), Italian ($245.70 minimum), and São Paulo ($89.10 minimum) Grands Prix are all iconic races that offer affordable grandstand passes at various budget-friendly price points.

For those planning to spend about $600 per person on F1 tickets, three-day grandstand passes will largely be accessible to you. You can check out the season opener in Australia ($367.25 minimum), catch a historic moment in the UK ($455.13 minimum), or even splurge a bit in Austin, USA ($595.50 minimum). 

And lastly, if you are looking to go all out and spend upwards of $1,000, then the big three are for you. Three-day grandstand passes at Monaco ($1,079.33 minimum), Las Vegas ($918.76 minimum) and the season closer in Abu Dhabi ($729.00 minimum) are all sure to provide not just a stunning view of the on-track action, but a larger-than-life experience overall.

Once you’ve decided which race and what type of ticket is perfect for you, head over to our Tickets and Guides to access detailed travel and seating information for every race on the F1 calendar.

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Our methodology

We looked at the price of all three-day (Friday to Sunday) passes available for GA and every grandstand at each race on the 2026 F1 calendar. Wherever possible, we used the 2026 prices listed on individual circuit websites. For races that haven’t posted 2026 prices or are still upcoming this year, we used the 2025 ticket prices instead.

Substitutions: For Monaco, a three-day GA pass was not available; we thus instead summed the individual prices of Friday, Saturday and Sunday GA tickets to get a proxy three-day GA price. As Monaco, Las Vegas and Singapore have separate tickets for various GA areas, we calculated the average three-day GA price across all options for those tracks. The Chinese Grand Prix has also recently converted its GA area to unassigned grandstand-style seating.

Prices were recorded in full from the circuit website directly for all races except:

Miami: 2026 prices obtained from www.nbcmiami.com 

Great Britain, Azerbaijan: 2025 (AZE) and 2026 (GRB) prices partially obtained from gpdestinations.com/ 

Las Vegas: 2025 prices partially obtained from formula1.com/ 

Abu Dhabi: Partial data based on listings available from the circuit website on Oct 16, 2025.

Ticket prices were recorded in local currency, and converted to USD using the Oct 16th, 2025 exchange rate as listed on Google. Some grands prix are subject to dynamic pricing, and current prices may differ from those used in the above dataset.

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