Coverage of last weekend's US Grand Prix, from motor racing's Formula 1 (F1) series, broke coverage records in the race's home market.

The live broadcast of that race, which took place in Austin, Texas, brought in the largest domestic audience on record, with an average of 1.5 million having watched the race-only section of the telecast provided by US broadcast partner ABC.

Data shows that this figure represents a 14% rise on the equivalent number tuning in for coverage of the US Grand Prix in 2024.

In terms of a viewership peak, this came between 4:15pm and 4:30pm (Eastern Time), at 1.6 million.

This year's US Grand Prix was won by Max Verstappen of the Red Bull Racing team, with Verstappen's victory putting him firmly in contention for the 2025 drivers' championship title, alongside the two McLaren drivers of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

So far, out of the 19 F1 races to have taken place in the 2025 season, 17 have experienced year-on-year growth in audiences, ABC's sister broadcaster ESPN has said. In addition, 12 of the 17 have drawn record audiences for ESPN/ABC.

These records come during ESPN and ABC's final season as F1 broadcast partners in the US - as was unveiled late last week, from 2026 through 2030, rights will be held by the Apple TV streaming service instead. That deal has been valued as worth $140 million per year to F1, whereas the ESPN-F1 tie-up - 2023-25 - is valued at $85 million each season.

All Apple TV customers will receive access to live coverage of every on-track F1 session (but will not produce its own commentary, with arrangements for that as yet undecided), as well as to all the content produced by the F1 TV in-house production arm. This includes all free practice, qualifying, and sprint sessions, as well as all Grand Prix races for the next five seasons.

Select races - as well as every free practice session - will be covered for free via the Apple TV app, both parties have said.

F1 is scheduled to have three US races next season - Miami in early May, Austin in late October, and Las Vegas in mid-November.

The series has been growing significantly in terms of its US popularity in recent times, helped to a large degree by the F1: Drive to Survive show that has been airing on streaming content service Netflix since 2019.

That series will continue, despite the live US rights moving to a Netflix rival, and will not be affected in terms of upcoming seasons.

Indeed, in terms of F1's continued presence in the US, it was announced in the hours leading up to the Austin race that the Circuit of the Americas venue (which hosts the event), has extended its contract with the series through 2034.

F1 has now claimed that, over the first decade of the US Grand Prix in Austin, the total economic impact for Austin and Texas came to $7 billion.