After months of negotiations over a rights deal, Apple and Formula 1 have finally waved the checkered flag.
Apple and Formula 1 announced a five-year agreement under which all F1 races will be available exclusively on Apple TV in the U.S. beginning in 2026. According to Apple, it will deliver the Formula 1 programming with a “more dynamic and elevated viewing experience,” and both parties expressed optimism that the deal will attract new motorsports fans in America in the years ahead. The company is rebranding the video-streaming service, which launched in 2019 as Apple TV+, to remove the plus sign.
It’s another big move by Apple into sports, which also has streaming deals with MLB and Major League Soccer. The F1 agreement and follows Apple’s partnership with Formula 1 for original film “F1 The Movie,” starring Brad Pitt, which raked in $629 million worldwide at the box office this year — the highest-grossing sports movie of all time and Pitt’s highest-grossing feature to date. “F1 The Movie” will debut on Apple TV on Dec. 12, 2025.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Apple will pay an average of approximately $150 million annually to Formula 1 under the pact, valuing it at about $750 million over the term, according to a source with direct knowledge of the agreement. Formula 1 had been seeking up to $180 million per year for the U.S. broadcast rights, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year. Apple is paying a significant premium over the $90 million per year currently paid by ESPN, whose F1 broadcast deal expires at the end of 2025 after holding the rights in the U.S. since 2018.
Starting next year, Apple TV will deliver all Formula 1 practice, qualifying, Sprint sessions and Grands Prix races to U.S. subscribers as part of their $12.99/month subscription. The F1 broadcasts will be available in English and Spanish. In addition, a “select” number of races as well as all practice sessions will be available for free in the Apple TV app (no subscription required) throughout the Formula 1 season.
The Apple-F1 deal goes beyond streaming on Apple TV. Apple said it will “amplify” the sport across Apple News, Apple Maps, Apple Music and Apple Fitness+, and will promote Formula 1 in its physical Apple Stores. The free Apple Sports app for iPhone will feature live updates for every qualifying, Sprint and race for each Grand Prix across the season, with real-time leaderboards, season driver and constructor standings; the app also will let you follow F1 on the iPhone lock screen and Apple will introduce a designated F1 widget for the smartphone’s home screen.
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Apple said it will release additional info on the Formula 1 partnership in the next few months, including production details, product enhancements, and ways fans will be able to access F1 content across various products and services.
Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior VP of services, said on a call with reporters that he’s a “huge F1 fan” and has been ever since he was a 10-year-old growing up in Miami (when Formula 1 races weren’t even on American TV). “There’s no more incredible content than Formula 1,” he said. “I think we’re gonna be gaining new fans.”
Apple’s deal with Formula 1 runs from 2026-31, but, Cue said, “I hope we’re doing this forever.”
Formula 1 president and CEO Stefano Domenicali noted that the motorsports league has been working with Apple for the last three years on “F1 The Movie.” The expanded partnership giving Apple TV U.S. broadcast rights will help the league get “more in the culture of American fans,” he said.
“We have a shared vision to bring this amazing sport to our fans in the U.S. and entice new fans through live broadcasts, engaging content and a year-round approach to keep them hooked,” Domenicali said. “We know the power of what Apple can do… Apple is more than a platform. It’s a social movement.”
Under Apple’s deal with Formula 1, the F1 TV Premium streaming service (priced at $16.99/month) will continue to be available in the U.S. via an Apple TV subscription only. Formula 1 execs positioned the change as delivering enhanced value for fans, as they will get all Apple TV and F1 content for a lower monthly price.
Apple TV (née Apple TV+) to date has offered a limited amount of sports. Starting in 2022, in a deal with Major League Baseball, the service has streamed two regular-season “Friday Night Baseball” games. In 2023, it launched the “MLS Season Pass” subscription add-on for Apple TV under a 10-year deal with Major League Soccer.
Looking ahead, Apple wants to acquire more sports rights but according to Cue, there must be something “unique and special” the company is able to do in its production and presentation of live sports. “We don’t have to do sports the way that they are. There’s plenty of people doing that,” Cue said at the Autosport Business Exchange conference this week in New York. Apple certainly has the war chest to make major moves in the sector: It reported net income of $23.4 billion for the June quarter, and as of midyear had $55.4 billion in cash and equivalents on its balance sheet.
Disney-owned ESPN declined to bid on a renewed F1 deal, which it had reupped through the end of 2025. The first Formula 1 race ever aired in the U.S. was on ABC in 1962, and ESPN aired races between 1984 and 1997. Formula 1 is owned by John Malone’s Liberty Media, which closed its $4.4 billion deal for the league in January 2017.
ESPN was “very instrumental for us in our growth in the U.S.,” Domenicali told reporters. “I want to really thank ESPN… They invested in us when no one was really ready to invest in us.”
According to F1, the racing league is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world, with a U.S. fanbase that reached 52 million in 2024.
Pictured above: Sparks fly behind Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the Oracle Red Bull Racing RB21 car during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore on Oct. 4, 2025
From Variety US