The Australian Grand Prix is finally upon us, with the premiere F1 race taking place on Sunday, March 16 (local time, but for many viewers it'll be Saturday, March 15), but before then you can watch practice and qualifying races to get you into the mood for the start of this new season.
US: ESPN Channels
UK: Sky Sports
AU: Channel 10 (free) | Foxtel | Kayo Sports
Watch abroad with a VPN
The Australian Grand Prix is the first of the 24 races in the 2024 Formula 1 season, so people around the world are going to be tuning in to see it (here's how to watch all of the F1 2025 season, if you're interested in planning ahead). It'll be a hint at how the season could pan out.
The race will be hosted at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne, a 5.278 km track with 14 turns. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc set the lap record for this track at last year's Aussie GP, at 1:19.813, and it's well within the realms of possibility that a new record could be set at the 2025 Australian Grand Prix.
But enough of this; let's find you a way to watch the Australian Grand Prix F1 race in your country, and we'll get into more detail about the course and the schedule afterwards.
How to watch the Australian Grand Prix F1 2025 race in the US
The official broadcaster for all F1 races in the US is ESPN, and thankfully it's published a long list of what's showing where so you know where to turn to watch or stream races.
It's a little all over the place but coverage is split between the streaming services Disney Plus and ESPN Plus, and the cable channels ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNews and ESPNU. Those cost $7.99 and $11.99 per month respectively, and you can bundle them with the Disney Bundle (which gets you Hulu too) for $14.99 monthly.
If you've cut the cord, a few live TV streaming services have the required ESPN channels:
DirecTV has ESPN and ESPN2 on its $64.99 Entertainment plan, and if you upgrade to the $84.99 Choice tier, you also get ESPNews and ESPNU. Hulu with Live TV, starting at $81.99, has all ESPN channels save ESPN3. Sling TV on its Orange plan, which costs you $45 per month, has ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN3. And Fubo has ESPN and ESPN2 on its $74.99 base plan, and upgrading to the $84.99 Elite plan gets you ESPNews and ESPNU too.
Now you have a way to watch the various ESPN channels (or, more likely, want to see which channels you actually need), let's take a look at the full schedule.
Firstly, if all you care about is the race: the Australian Grand Prix will air on the ESPN cable channel, with ESPN Plus letting you track driver stats and stream from on-board cameras. Coverage begins at 11:55 pm ET/8:55 pm PT.
Now here's the full schedule:
Thursday, March 13:
- Practice 1: ESPNews & ESPN Plus at 9:25 pm ET/6:25 pm PT.
Friday, March 14
- Practice 2: ESPN2 at 12:55 am ET/9:55 pm PT the day before).
- F1 Show: ESPN3 at 3:10am ET/12:10 am PT.
- Practice 3: ESPN3 & ESPN Plus at 9:25 pm ET/6:25 pm PT.
Saturday, March 15
- Qualifier: ESPNU at 12:55 am ET/9:55 pm PT the day before).
- Ted's Qualifying Notebook: ESPN3 at 3am ET/midnight PT.
- Race: ESPN at 11:55 pm ET/8:55 pm PT.
How to watch the Australian Grand Prix F1 2025 race in the UK
If you've just scrolled through the entire US streaming section and are worried it'll be that complex in the UK, don't worry: it's not. In the UK you simply need to sign up for Sky TV with Sky Sports to watch the Australian Grand Prix.
Signing up via Essential TV (£35 per month) or Ultimate TV (£42) won't matter, as long as you get the Sky Sports add-on. The difference is that Ultimate TV has more TV channels, but it won't affect your sports viewing.
Coverage will largely be on the Sky Sports F1 channel, but some will be on Sky Sports Main Event too.
Here's the full Sky Sports schedule for the Australian Grand Prix. I'll omit the 'Sky Sports' from each channel title to save time.
Friday, March 14
- Practice 1: Main Event and F1 at 1 am.
- Practice 2: Main Event and F1 at 4:45 am.
- Repeats throughout day
Saturday, March 15
- Practice 3: Main Event and F1 at 1:10 am.
- Qualifying: Main Event and F1 at 4:15 am.
- Repeats throught day
Sunday, March 16
- Live Grand Prix Sunday: Main Event and F1 at 2:30 am.
- Race: Main Event and F1 at 3:55 am.
How to watch the Australian Grand Prix F1 2025 race in Australia
The Australian Grand Prix will be free to watch in Australia, because for this F1 race (and this one only), Network 10 will broadcast the event. It will show it on the 10 TV channel, as well as its online streaming service 10Play.
The race starts at 3 pm local time in Melbourne, which is midday in WA and 1:30 pm in NT and SA.
If you'll be wanting to sign up for more F1 than just the Australian Grand Prix race, you should look to Kayo Sport, Foxtel or Foxtel Now, because both will show all the other races (as well as the Australian GP).
Network 10 will also show all three practice races, and the qualifier, in the days leading up to the race.
How to watch the Australian Grand Prix F1 2025 race everywhere else
If you're going to be away from your normal TV setup but still want to watch the Australian Grand Prix, you might run into some problems. Thankfully, you can solve this exact issue with a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
A VPN lets you change your IP address to that of the area of what you want to watch, meaning you can tune in to your favorite sport, event, show or other content even if you're not there. Our favorite is NordVPN, which is the No. 1-rated VPN in the world right now according to our sister site, TechRadar.
How to use a VPN to watch any stream
- Download the app at NordVPN
- Choose the location of the streaming service you want to watch (UK, US, etc)
- Navigate to the streaming service and start watching!
Australian Grand Prix race details
Australian Grand Prix track
The Australian Grand Prix takes place at the Albert Park Circuit, in Melbourne, Victoria. Here's a look FIA's map of the track:
As you can see, there are 14 turns across the track, which measures 5.278km in full. It's a popular track amongst F1 drivers due to the fast achieveable speeds and regularity of turns, however there aren't many real straights which makes overtaking hard.
The track loops around a lake in the center, which is Albert Park Lake.
Australian Grand Prix racers and teams
Here's who's hitting the grid for the F1 2025 season:
- Alexander Albon (Williams)
- Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
- Carlos Sainz (Williams)
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
- Esteban Ocon (Haas)
- Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
- Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber)
- George Russell (Mercedes)
- Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
- Jack Doohan (Alpine)
- Lando Norris (McLaren)
- Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
- Liam Lawson (Red Bull Racing)
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing)
- Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
- Oliver Bearman (Haas)
- Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
- Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls)
