The third stop of the F1 2025 season takes us to Suzuka City: the Japanese Grand Prix race will take place on Sunday, April 6, with races and qualifiers in the lead-up.
The first three Grand Prix events of the F1 2025 season have been in the East: Australia, China and now Japan, which makes the races slightly harder to watch from the West due to the antisocial hours. However the Japanese Grand Prix marks the last before a slow migration westward.
Nobody's been able to predict the Formula 1 season winners so far with two upsets in the first two races, and the drama could continue in Suzuka. Here's how to watch all of the F1 2025 season in general, as this guide will focus on the latest race.
The Japanese Grand Prix takes place at the Suzuka Circuit in Mie Prefecture, Japan , and you can find out more about the course below.
While the race itself is on Sunday, April 6, there will be practice races and qualifiers worth watching ahead of time. Here's everything you need to know so you can watch the Japanese Grand Prix when it happens.
How to watch the Japanese Grand Prix F1 2025 race in the US
The official broadcaster for all F1 races in the US is ESPN, and that includes the Japanese Grand Prix with a whole host of options.
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. It won't be showing the Japanese Grand Prix itself though some practices and other features will come through the app. Instead you'll need ESPN itself for the main event.
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 Japanese 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 12:55am ET on Sunday, April 6 which is 9:55pm PT on Saturday, April 5.
Now here's the full schedule:
Thursday, April 3:
- Practice 1: ESPNews and ESPN Plus at 10:25 pm ET/7:25 pm PT.
Friday, April 4
- Practice 2: ESPN2 at 1:55am ET / 10:55pm PT the day prior
- F1 Show: ESPN3 at 3:15 am ET/12:15 am PT
- Practice 3: ESPNews and ESPN Plus at 10:25 pm ET/7:25 pm PT.
Saturday, April 5
- Qualifying Pre-show: ESPN3 at 1 am ET/ 10 pm PT the day prior
- Qualifying: ESPN 2 at 1:55 am ET / 10:55 pm PT the day prior
- Ted's Qualifying Notebook: ESPN3 at 4am ET/1 am PT.
- Grand Prix Sunday (pre-race): ESPNU at 11:30 pm ET/8:30 pm PT
Sunday, April 6
- Race: ESPN at 12:55am ET/ 9:55pm PT the day prior
- Checkered Flag: ESPN3 at 3 am ET/midnight PT
- Ted's Race Notebook: ESPN3 at 4 am ET/1 am PT
ESPNews will re-air the race at midday ET/9 am PT and 8 pm ET/5 pm PT that same day.
How to watch the Japanese 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 Japanese 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 Japanese Grand Prix. I'll omit the 'Sky Sports' from each channel title to save time.
Friday, April 4
- Practice 1: F1 and Main Event at 3 am
- Practice 2: F1 and Main Event at 6:45 am
Saturday, April 5
- Practice 3: F1 and Main Event at 3:15 am
- Qualifying: F1 and Main Event at 6 am
Sunday, April 6
- Grand Prix Sunday: F1 and Main Event at 4:30 am
- Race: F1 and Main Event at 5:55 am
Sky Sports F1 will also repeat the Japanese Grand Prix at 10:55 am and 3:25 pm that day.
How to watch the Japenese Grand Prix F1 2025 race in Australia
In order to watch the Japanese Grand Prix in Australia, you'll need to sign up for either Kayo Sport, Foxtel or Foxtel Now, which will be airing the coverage.
These are all paid services but Kayo is airing the practice and qualifying races for free, and you can find the schedule below. You'll have to pay for the race itself though.
Thanks to Japan only being two hours out, the AEDT time of each event isn't at an unreasonable hour. Here's the full schedule:
Friday, April 4
- Practice 1: 1:30 pm
- Practice 2: 5pm
Saturday, April 5
- Practice 3: 1:30 pm
- Qualifying: 5 pm
Sunday, April 6
- Race: 4 pm
How to watch the Japanese 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 Japanese 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!
Japanese Grand Prix race details
Japanese Grand Prix track
The Japanese Grand Prix takes place at the Suzuka Circuit, in Suzuka in Japan's Mie Prefecture. Here's a look FIA's map of the track:
Originally designed as a test course for Honda, the Suzuka Circuit is distinct for its crossover, which you can see on the map. This is a bridge and underpass, and racers aren't expected to wait at traffic lights!
The full course has 18 turns over its 5.807km track (that's the longest we've seen so far in the F1 2025 season).
It has two long straits, plus plenty of dangers like a hairpun turn and a run of 'S' curves right after the first turn.
Japanese 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)
