For one weekend, Apple TV’s Formula 1 paywall is coming down. Every session of the Las Vegas Grand Prix will stream free of charge in the United States from November 19 to 21, with lights out on Saturday night at 8pm local time.
Apple is in the first season of a five-year US deal with Formula 1, and committed to making a select number of races free-to-air across the season alongside its paid F1 tier inside the Apple TV app.
The weekend schedule runs in Las Vegas local time:
- Thursday, November 19: FP1 at 4:30pm, FP2 at 8pm
- Friday, November 20: FP3 at 4:30pm, qualifying at 8pm
- Saturday, November 21: Race at 8pm
How US viewers can tune in
Viewers can open the Apple TV app on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, Android, Windows, Xbox or PlayStation, or head to tv.apple.com in a web browser, and find the sessions inside the dedicated Formula 1 hub. As Racer reported in its write-up of the announcement, anyone in the United States can log in on any supported device and watch practice, qualifying and the race without paying for a subscription.
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A title already settled before the Strip
The free weekend arrives in a season whose headline story is already written. Kimi Antonelli clinched the drivers’ title at the Mexico City Grand Prix on November 1, aged 20, becoming the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history. A week later, Mercedes sealed the constructors’ championship in Brazil.
Las Vegas is round 21 of 23. The runner-up battle in the drivers’ standings is still open: Max Verstappen sits second on 279 points, 111 behind Antonelli and ahead of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, according to the standings after Brazil. Qatar and Abu Dhabi close out the season after Las Vegas.
The biggest US race on the schedule
Making the Strip round free is Apple’s largest accessibility move since the F1 deal began. The Las Vegas Grand Prix, run at night past the casinos and drawing casual sports audiences who do not watch the series weekly, is one of the most commercially visible events on the Formula 1 calendar.
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