Apple TV streamed its first Formula 1 race of the season, and it scored what Apple’s Senior Vice President of Services Eddy Cue called a “huge victory” over the numbers ESPN scored for the same race a year ago.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Cue said, “The 2026 Formula 1 season on Apple TV is off to a strong start, with fans responding positively and viewership up year over year for the first weekend, exceeding both F1 and Apple expectations,” Cue told the reporter.
As is traditional for Apple TV, Cue did not provide exact viewing figures, but we do know that ESPN averaged 1.1 million viewers for last year’s Australian GP in its late-night time slot.
Apple now turns its hopes for F1 streaming success to upcoming US F1 races, including Miami and Montreal, where Apple hopes to continue to see ratings increases over last year’s broadcasts.
Apple is using technology to provide new ways to view F1 races, offering a dedicated Formula 1 channel that provides access to numerous bits of F1 content in the US, such as practice, qualifying, Sprint sessions, and the entire 2026 F1 Season Grand Prix slate. Live races will allow viewers to take advantage of the Multiview experience, which offers the ability to view up to four live race feeds at once on the Apple TV 4K, iPad, or Apple Vision Pro.
Apple recently struck a deal with Netflix that see that streamer offer the Canadian Grand Prix, while its popular docuseries “Drive to Survive” will stream on Apple TV. (Both shows will continue to stream on their respective services.) The whole eight-episode season is available here via the Apple TV app and website. The new episodes of Drive to Survive follows the action of the 2025 F1 season.
While the deal is a bit unusual, it does make sense for both streaming services, offering cross-promotion for both streaming service’s F1 content.
Apple is also using its apps ecosystem to promote its F1 connection, using the Apple Music, Apple News, and Apple Sports apps for promotional purposes.
Apple TV+ is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion devices, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac, popular smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO, TCL, and others, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation, and Xbox gaming consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $12.99 per month with a seven-day free trial. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac, or iPod touch can enjoy three months of Apple TV+ for free.
