The second F1 race of 2025 is the Chinese Grand Prix, which takes place on Sunday, March 23, and it comes hot on the heels of the first race of the season in Melbourne last week.
This fresh Formula 1 season has already seen one podium upset in its first race, and the drama could continue for the Chinese GP. Here's how to watch all of the F1 2025 season in general, as this guide will focus on the latest race.
The Chinese Grand Prix takes place at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, and F1 fans in the US and UK will be glad to know that it's a little closer in time to the west — so the race will take place at a more reasonable hour.
While the race itself is on Sunday, March 23, there will be practice races and qualifiers worth watching ahead of time. Here's everything you need to know so you can watch the Chinese Grand Prix when it happens.
How to watch the Chinese 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 service ESPN Plus, and the cable channels ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNews and ESPNU.
The aforementioned streaming service costs$11.99 per month, and we've got an entire guide detailing F1 2025 on ESPN Plus so you know exactly what you're getting if you sign up, which I'd recommend checking out.
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 Chinese 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 20:
- Practice 1: ESPN2 at 11:25 pm ET/8:25 pm PT.
Friday, March 21
- Spring Qualifying: ESPN2 at 3:25 am ET / 0:25 am PT
- Sprint: ESPNU at 10:55 pm ET / 7:55 pm PT
Saturday, March 22
- Qualifying Pre-show: ESPN3 at 2:35 am ET/ 11:35 pm PT the day prior
- Qualifying: ESPN 2 at 2:55 am ET / 11:55 pm PT the day prior
- Ted's Qualifying Notebook: ESPN3 at 5am ET/2 am PT.
Sunday, March 23
- Race: ESPN at 2:55 am ET / 11:55 pm PT the day prior
How to watch the Chinese 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 Chinese 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 Chinese Grand Prix. I'll omit the 'Sky Sports' from each channel title to save time.
Friday, March 21
- Practice 1: F1 at 3:30 am.
- Spring Shootout: F1 at 7:30 am
Saturday, March 22
- Sprint: F1 at 3 am
- Qualifying: F1 at 7 am
Sunday, March 23
- Grand Prix Sunday: F1 at 6 am.
- Race: F1 at 7 am.
How to watch the Chinese Grand Prix F1 2025 race in Australia
The Chinese Grand Prix, unlike the Australian one last weekend, won't be free to watch. Instead, you'll need to sign up for Kayo Sport, Foxtel or Foxtel Now, because they'll show the races through the season.
The race will take place at 6 pm AEDT on Sunday, March 23. On Friday, March 21 the practice begins at 2:30 pm in that same time zone and is followed by the sprints, and on Saturday, March 22, the spring begins at 2 pm and is followed by the qualifiers.
How to watch the Chinese 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 Chinese 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!
Chinese Grand Prix race details
Chinese Grand Prix track
The Chinese Grand Prix takes place at the Shanghai International Circuit, in Shanghai, China. Here's a look FIA's map of the track:
As you can see, there are 16 turns across the track, which measures 5.451km in full.
Notably there are two long straights, especially the lower one which is one of the longest of any F1 track, though the rest of the course consists of plenty of twists and turns.
The course was designed to look like the Chinese symbol 上, or Shang, which translates to 'on top', 'above' or 'upwards'.
Chinese 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)
