Formula 1 races will be broadcast on a new network in the United States starting in 2026.
According to Puck News, ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro has informed F1 that it won’t renew its rights agreement that ends after the 2025 season. ESPN has been paying approximately $90 million per season for F1 rights as part of its current three-year contract extension. ESPN pays to air Sky Sports’ British coverage of F1 races, though it has sent ESPN employees to U.S.-based races.
Netflix and NBC are considered to be the new candidates for F1’s TV rights in the U.S. NBC had the rights to F1 before ESPN took over and the sport grew in the U.S. Netflix, of course, is the home of the “Drive to Survive” doc-series that helped fuel F1’s growth during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
ESPN said that F1’s 24 races had an average of 1.1 million viewers across the three networks that aired Grand Prix races in 2024. The most-watched race was the Miami Grand Prix in May. It had just over 3.1 million viewers. ESPN started broadcasting F1 races in 2018 and had an average of just over 550,000 viewers for its first season of races.
It’s reasonable to expect viewership to at least hold steady during the 2025 season. The constructor’s battle could be wide-open after McLaren beat Ferrari in 2024 and though Max Verstappen is the title favorite, he was not nearly as dominant in 2024 as he was over the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Plus, Lewis Hamilton is now at Ferrari as he chases a record eighth F1 title.
