How to Watch F1 in the US in 2026: TV, Streaming & Free Options

2026 is the biggest change in how Americans watch Formula 1 in a generation. After nearly two decades split between SPEED, NBC, and ESPN, US broadcast rights moved to Apple under a five-year deal — which means the way you watched last season no longer applies. Here's the full picture.

Apple TV is the home of F1 in the US

Starting with the 2026 season, Apple TV is the exclusive US broadcaster of Formula 1. Every session of every race weekend — practice, qualifying, sprint sessions, and the Grand Prix itself — streams live on Apple TV, with races produced in 4K with Dolby Vision and 5.1 surround sound.

An Apple TV subscription runs $12.99 per month (or $99 per year), and despite the name you don't need Apple hardware: the Apple TV app is available on smart TVs, streaming sticks and boxes (Roku, Fire TV, Google TV), game consoles, Android devices, and any web browser at tv.apple.com.

One genuinely good wrinkle for hardcore fans: F1 TV Premium is included at no extra cost with an Apple TV subscription in the US. That's the sport's own streaming product — live onboard cameras for every driver, team radio, live timing and telemetry — which previously cost extra as a standalone subscription.

Free ways to watch (and listen)

Not ready to subscribe? 2026 actually expanded the free options:

• Free sessions on Apple TV: all practice sessions and a selection of full race weekends throughout the season are free to watch in the Apple TV app, no subscription required.
• Yahoo Sports: live practice and qualifying sessions stream free on the Yahoo Sports platform, including a mixed onboard feed during qualifying.
• Tubi altcasts: the free streaming service Tubi carries alternative live broadcasts ("altcasts") of multiple races during the 2026 season, with creator-led commentary.
• Apple Music radio: free live audio broadcasts of every race — genuinely useful for early-morning European rounds when you'd rather listen from bed.

What happened to ESPN?

ESPN's contract ran through the 2025 season, and the Sky Sports F1 commentary feed American fans knew came with it. Apple's coverage carries its own presentation with familiar F1 broadcast voices. If you had cable purely for F1, 2026 is the year that stops being necessary — the sport is now streaming-only in the US.

When are the races on? It depends where they are

The bigger challenge for US fans has never been where to watch but when. In 2026 the 22-race calendar spans every continent bar Africa and Antarctica, and start times in US time zones swing from the middle of the night to prime time:

• European races (Monaco Grand Prix, British Grand Prix, Italian Grand Prix and more) start mid-morning Eastern, early morning Pacific.
• Races in the Americas (Miami Grand Prix, Canadian Grand Prix, United States Grand Prix, Mexico City Grand Prix, São Paulo Grand Prix) run in comfortable US afternoon slots.
• Las Vegas Grand Prix is the outlier: a Saturday night race at 8 PM Pacific / 11 PM Eastern.
• Asia-Pacific races (Australian Grand Prix, Japanese Grand Prix) mean overnight or very early morning viewing.

Our guide to why F1 start times vary so much breaks this down in detail, and every race page on this site shows the full session schedule converted to Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific time — see the complete 2026 calendar.

Never miss a session

The simplest insurance: download the full-season calendar file from this site. It drops every practice, qualifying, sprint, and race into Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or Outlook in your local time, with a 30-minute reminder before each session — daylight-saving shifts handled automatically.