Austin Grand Prix Marks One Year Since Apple Took F1's US Rights From ESPN in Five-Year Streaming Deal

This month's United States Grand Prix in Austin comes a year after Apple took F1's US rights from ESPN in a five-year deal. Apple announced it on Friday, 17 October 2025, two days before last year's race at the same Texas track. ESPN, which had shown F1 since 2018, had chosen to walk away.

Apple now streams every race in the US and reportedly pays about $140 million (£106 million) a year, compared with ESPN's roughly $90 million (£68 million). But Samba TV's data shows fewer US homes watched eight of nine 2026 races, with Miami down 68%. Apple and F1's owner, Liberty Media, say viewing is growing.

What Apple Bought From Formula 1

The deal runs from 2026 to 2030 and makes Apple the exclusive US rights holder for every practice, qualifying, sprint and Grand Prix session. Apple streams selected races and all practice sessions for free in its app, and subscribers get F1 TV Premium. An Apple TV subscription costs $12.99 (£9.82) a month, with a seven-day free trial for newcomers. Apple TV already carried Major League Soccer and Friday night Major League Baseball games.

At the deal's launch, Apple's Brad Pitt film F1: The Movie had become the highest-grossing sports film ever, at about $629 million (£476 million). F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali thanked ESPN on a press call, saying it 'invested in us when no one else was ready to invest in us,' Axios reported. Eddy Cue, Apple's services chief, promised subscribers 'front row access'. F1's own survey put 47% of newer US fans between 18 and 24.

What the Audience Numbers Show

Samba TV gathers its figures from smart TVs, so it sees little viewing on Apple's own devices, AppleInsider noted. Its measure counts homes that tune in, not average audience. Monaco fell 66%; like Miami, it aired on ABC, ESPN's free-to-air sister network, in 2025, as the chart below shows. Australia and China dipped slightly, and Japan was flat. Samba also found that 30% of 2026 viewers had not watched Apple TV in late 2025.

Apple and Liberty dispute that picture. Liberty chief executive Derek Chang told investors in August that US viewership was up year on year in 2026, with total hours watched rising 13% season-to-date. Samba's Alyson Sprague suggested fans 'may have activated an Apple TV free trial' for a race and then left, USA Today reported. Samba added that new viewers watched more races, averaging 2.6 against 1.9 last year. Neither company has published a figure to set against ESPN's record average of about 1.3 million viewers.

What Austin Means for Apple

The Austin race at the Circuit of the Americas starts at 8pm UK time on Sunday 25 October. Austin is the second of three US rounds this year, between Miami and Las Vegas in November. McLaren boss Zak Brown said in May that growing the US TV audience remains F1's next big challenge.

Four more seasons remain on the contract after this one. In May, Apple shared the Canadian Grand Prix with Netflix, the first time US fans could stream a race on Apple and Netflix at once. Liberty's Chang says Apple's reach is drawing younger fans and more women to the sport.