How to watch Formula 1 in the US in 2026

Formula 1 changed TV homes in the US this year. ESPN, which showed the races on cable through 2025, does not have them in 2026. Apple TV now has the exclusive US rights, and its subscription covers every session of every race weekend. If you used to watch on ESPN or paid for F1 TV on its own, the setup is different now.

What Apple TV includes

An Apple TV subscription has all practice, qualifying, Sprint and race sessions for the whole season, with English and Spanish commentary on the race coverage. Apple says Multiview lets you follow up to four live feeds at once on the Apple TV 4K box, iPad and Apple Vision Pro.

F1 TV Premium, Formula 1's own streaming service, is included with an Apple TV subscription in the US at no extra cost. That is where the onboard cameras, team radio and live timing are. You cannot buy F1 TV Premium on its own in the US any more; 9to5Mac notes it used to cost $129 a year as a separate product. To use it, open the F1 TV app or Formula 1's subscribe page and press Activate to link your F1 TV and Apple accounts. If you pay for Apple TV through Amazon Prime Video Channels, link that subscription to your Apple account first.

What it costs

Option	Price	Notes
Apple TV monthly	$12.99 a month	Seven-day free trial for new subscribers
Apple TV yearly	$99 a year	Switch to yearly in your subscription settings after signing up
New Apple device	Three months free	For eligible buyers of a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV or Mac
F1 TV Premium	Included	No longer sold separately in the US

With six race weekends left this season, the monthly plan is the cheaper choice if you only want the rest of 2026: the season ends on Dec. 6, so two monthly payments of $12.99 (about $26) cover it, while the yearly plan is $99. If you plan to watch next season too, the yearly plan costs less than paying monthly for the full calendar.

Devices

The Apple TV app runs on iPhone, iPad, Mac, the Apple TV box, Apple Vision Pro, select smart TVs, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox. You can also watch in a web browser at tv.apple.com. You do not need an Apple device, though Multiview only works on Apple hardware.

Free and cheap ways to follow F1

You can follow a lot of F1 without paying. 9to5Mac reports that all practice sessions stream free on Apple TV without a subscription. Apple Music has free live audio broadcasts of the races, which started with the Australian Grand Prix, and the free Apple Sports app on iPhone has live updates for every session. Apple Maps has circuit maps and event guides, and Apple News and Apple Podcasts carry F1 coverage.

Apple also lined up partners. Tubi, which is free, has exclusive alternate broadcasts for some races. Yahoo Sports has live practice and qualifying streams in the US. Five Grands Prix are shown in select IMAX theaters. The Canadian Grand Prix was streamed in the US on both Apple TV and Netflix.

Before race weekend: a short checklist

• Start the Apple TV subscription at least a day early, so the free trial or the first payment has gone through before Friday practice.
• Link F1 TV Premium to your Apple account in the F1 TV app if you want team radio, onboard cameras and live timing.
• Pick English or Spanish commentary in the player before the race starts.
• If you want Multiview, use an Apple TV 4K, an iPad or an Apple Vision Pro; other devices show one feed at a time.
• Add Apple Sports on your iPhone for live updates if you will be away from the TV.

Where the title race stands

Formula 1's standings after Singapore have Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli on 340 points, 102 ahead of his teammate George Russell on 238. Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton is third on 229, Red Bull's Max Verstappen fourth on 221 and Charles Leclerc fifth on 215. Six races are left, all without a Sprint, so a driver can score at most 150 more points and the title is still open.

The rest of the 2026 calendar

Singapore, the last Sprint weekend of the year, ran on Oct. 9-11. Six weekends remain, and four of them are in the Americas, which means friendlier start times for US viewers:

Dates	Grand Prix	Circuit
Oct. 23-25	United States	Circuit of The Americas, Austin
Oct. 30-Nov. 1	Mexico City	Mexico City
Nov. 6-8	Sao Paulo	Interlagos, Sao Paulo
Nov. 19-21	Las Vegas	Las Vegas
Nov. 27-29	Qatar	Lusail
Dec. 4-6	Abu Dhabi	Yas Marina

The next race, the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of The Americas, is 56 laps. Austin, Mexico City and Sao Paulo are three weekends in a row. Las Vegas runs Thursday to Saturday, so its race is on Saturday, not Sunday. Qatar and Abu Dhabi close the season in the Gulf. All of them are standard weekends, without a Sprint.

Watching F1 outside the US

The Apple deal is for the US only. In other countries F1 is shown by local broadcasters, so the Apple TV route does not carry over if you travel or live abroad.

Where to check session times

Session times move with time zones and daylight saving, which ends in the US on Nov. 1, the Sunday of the Mexico City weekend. CrackStreams lists each race weekend and its session times on its F1 page. Our UFC guide covers the other big sports rights move of 2026.