F1 2019 is just around the corner, but what can we expect from the new season as Lewis Hamilton searches for his sixth world title? Formula One (F1) is the highest class of single-seat auto racing that is sanctioned by (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been the premier form of racing since the inaugural season in 1950.
Formula 1 had a total global television audience of 490 million people during the course of the 2018 season, what is a global growth of 39% compared to 2017.
iOS and Android
Despite a huge move of Formula TV rights on pay-TV, there are a lot of FTA (free-to-air) satellite broadcasters having Formula 1 live TV rights or even highlights.
Vettel vs Hamilton or Verstappen vs Leclerc
Lewis Hamilton will be favourite for the Formula One world title again this season. Despite Ferrari producing much more competitive F1 cars in the past two years, Sebastian Vettel suffered two heavy defeats against Lewis Hamilton in the drivers’ championship, while the Scuderia has not succeeded in ending Mercedes’ streak of constructors’ titles.
Yet Vettel’s Ferrari team have emerged from Formula One’s winter hibernation boasting the fastest car. Charles Leclerc will partner Vettel at Ferrari this year and is fancied to put the heat on his teammate. Leclerc says he has not set any “particular target” for his race debut with the team at the Australian Grand Prix.
The 21-year-old Monegasque has moved to partner Sebastian Vettel in Ferrari’s revised driver line-up for the upcoming campaign after his impressive rookie season with Sauber in 2018. Vettel should be kept on his toes by Leclerc but is expected to restore his reputation while Max Verstappen will have his hands full with Pierre Gasly at Red Bull.
Formula One UK TV rights
Sky Sports F1 have the lion’s share of live coverage in the Formula 1 2019 season after the broadcaster signed an exclusive deal to F1’s live TV rights in the UK. Channel 4 (DVB-T Free in UK, DVB-S FTA on Astra 28.2°E) will showing highlights of all the Qualifying and Formula 1 races this year, along with the British GP at Silverstone in full.
NOW TV has just released a special F1 Season Ticket that gives you access to all nine months of the F1 season for a reduced overall price. The F1 Season Ticket for NOW TV will cost you a single £195 payment for the entire season.
F1 remains on free-to-air TV in Germany
German broadcaster RTL will have the exclusive free-to-air rights to cover Formula 1 Grands Prix from 2018 to 2020. The agreement includes the coverage of the three free practice sessions on Fridays and Saturdays, qualifying sessions on Saturday afternoons and races on Sundays.
RTL has covered Formula 1 live in Germany since the middle of the 1991 season. RTL Germany is available via different satellites, but it is only free-to-air via Astra 19.2° satellite position.
After a one-year break, pay-TV broadcaster Sky Deutschland will show the Formula 1 again in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The new agreement covers the 2019 and 2020 seasons across all race weekends. Customers with the Sky Q box can watch all races live in Ultra HD on Sky Sport UHD. The rights package includes the live broadcasting rights via satellite, cable, IPTV, streaming and mobile TV in Germany and Austria as well as the German-language rights in Switzerland.
Formula One free satellite TV broadcasters
Some countries have formula one free on their terrestrial, cable or stream channels. In this table we have provided only satellite FTA (free-to-air) channels with broadcasting details.
- Albania (RTSH Sport – All races)
- Australia (Network Ten – Australian GP only)
- Austria (RTL / ORF – All races)
- Brazil (Globo – All races)
- China (CCTV-5 – All races)
- Germany (RTL – All races)
- Russia (Match TV – All races)
- Slovenia (TV3 Slovenija – All races)
- United Kingdom (Channel 4 – British GP only)
- Venezuela (TVes – All races)
Formula 1 calendar
Australian Grand Prix: Melbourne, 15-17 March
Bahrain Grand Prix: Sakhir, 29-31 March
Chinese Grand Prix: Shanghai, 12-14 April
Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Baku, 26-28 April
Spanish Grand Prix: Barcelona, 10-12 May
Monaco Grand Prix: Monte Carlo, 23, 25-26 May
Canadian Grand Prix: Montreal, 7-9 June
French Grand Prix: Le Castellet, 21-23 June
Austrian Grand Prix: Spielberg, 28-30 June
British Grand Prix: Silverstone, 12-14 July
German Grand Prix: Hockenheim, 26-28 July
Hungarian Grand Prix: Budapest, 2-4 August
Belgian Grand Prix: Spa-Francorchamps, 30 August-1 September
Italian Grand Prix: Monza, 6-8 September
Singapore Grand Prix: Marina Bay, 20-22 September
Russian Grand Prix: Sochi, 27-29 September
Japanese Grand Prix: Suzuka, 11-13 October
Mexican Grand Prix: Mexico City, 25-27 October
United States Grand Prix: Austin, 1-3 November
Brazilian Grand Prix: Sao Paulo, 15-17 November
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Yas Marina, 29 November-1 December