Apple is reportedly working to secure US media rights to the iconic Formula 1 (F1) motor racing series.
The global technology giant is in talks over snapping up broadcast rights to that series, the Financial Times publication has reported, with F1's popularity in the US having risen significantly in recent years.
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These reports have emerged following the strong initial success of the Apple-produced F1: The Movie film, which has, according to various media outlets, grossed $293 million since it was released 10 days ago.
The FT has now reported that Apple, which puts its live sports rights on its Apple TV+ streaming platform, is set to challenge F1's current US rights-holder, sports heavyweight ESPN, when the current cycle comes to an end.
ESPN currently shows F1 action in the US via a deal struck in late 2022, which GlobalData Sport has valued at $85 million annually, and expires at the end of the upcoming 2025 season. The broadcaster has shown the series since 2018 – for the cycle before that, NBC held the rights.
Aside from F1: The Movie, the last half-decade or so has seen F1's popularity in the US surge, with a large part of that caused by the appeal of the Netflix program Drive to Survive, which offers viewers a behind-the-scenes, soap opera-style look at the 10 teams and 20 drivers.
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By GlobalDataIndeed, earlier this year, reports came out that Netflix has also been looking at snapping up US F1 rights from 2026 onwards.
The US will stage three of the 24 F1 races in 2025 – in Miami, Austin, and Las Vegas – and will do so again next year.
In terms of F1's US popularity, viewing figures in that market for the 2025 British Grand Prix at Silverstone last weekend were up 19% year-on-year, it has been revealed.
ESPN2's coverage of the race was watched by an average of 1.5 million viewers, with a peak audience of 1.8 million between 11:30-11:45 am Eastern Time.
Last year's British Grand Prix was watched in the US by an average of 1.3 million.
Of the 12 F1 races so far in 2025, only one (the Miami Grand Prix) has not seen a year-on-year viewership from the same event in 2024.
Indeed, the audience for this year's edition of the iconic Monaco Grand Prix was the third-largest live viewership ever for an F1 race on TV in the US.
So far, races in 2025 are averaging 1.3 million viewers across ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC.
