Sky Sports F1 is a British pay television sports channel owned by Sky Group. Part of the Sky Sports networks, it primarily broadcasts coverage of the Formula One championship, including live coverage of all practices, qualifying sessions, and races, as well as studio programmes and archive content. The channel also carries coverage of other open-wheel motorsports competitions outside of F1, including the Formula 2 championship and the United States' IndyCar Series.

The channel was established in 2012 as part of Sky's acquisition of rights to Formula One in the UK and Ireland, a contract that has since been renewed through to 2034. Sky's F1 coverage has also been syndicated to broadcasters in Canada and the United States. Since Sky's acquisition of the rights, a free-to-air package of highlights and selected live races have also been sub-licensed to a free-to-air network, currently Channel 4.

Background The BBC had exclusive UK F1 rights from 2009 until the end of the 2013 season, having regained the rights from ITV. However, a new broadcast rights deal was announced on 29 July 2011, stating that Sky Sports would cover all races live. The BBC continued to broadcast half of the races live including the British Grand Prix and final race. It also allowed the BBC to show highlights of all races. In November 2011, Sky announced the new dedicated F1 channel would launch in March 2012, and will air all F1 races with coverage of practice sessions, qualifying and the race, live and commercial-free.

On 21 December 2015, it was announced that the BBC would be ending its television broadcast rights three seasons early after the 2015 season with its rights to 10 live races and highlights of all 21 races going to Channel 4. However, BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra would continue to broadcast live commentary of the whole season until the 2021 season.

Prior to the launch of the channel, there was some controversy about switching Formula One coverage at least in part to pay television.

Launch

The channel launched on 9 March 2012, seven days before the start of the 2012 Formula One season. During 2012, the channel was on air for sixty-three hours during race weeks and thirty-two hours during non-race weeks. Sky Sports F1 announced via Twitter that there would not be a dedicated Sky Sports F1 app, however the F1 section on the Sky Sports News app was enhanced.

Sky Sports F1 launched with a two-hour special of The F1 Show, presented by Simon Lazenby, Martin Brundle and Damon Hill, previewing the 2012 Formula One season.

Availability Sky Sports F1 HD on the Sky platform was available to new and existing customers before 1 April 2013 providing they subscribed to the HD pack. Existing subscribers to all of the Sky Sports channels without the HD pack received a standard definition version. Virgin Media and Smallworld Cable offer the standard definition version of the channel to Sky Sports subscribers, it is not available separately. The HD version of the channel was made available to Virgin Media customers subscribing to the Sky Sports Collection with the additional Sky Sports HD pack on 15 July 2014. A standard definition version of the channel is also provided through Sky Go.

Since 18 July 2017, new Sky TV customers are able to purchase the channel as a standalone channel, or as part of a larger Sky Sports package.

Since 2017, Sky Sports F1 has broadcast Formula 1 in 4K UHD.

International syndication Beginning in the 2016 season, Canadian F1 rights holder TSN began to simulcast Sky's coverage, including the pre- and post-race programmes and in-race commentary.

From 2018 to 2025, Formula One's US rights holder ESPN similarly began using Sky Sports F1's commentary, along with a simulcast of the pre-race show and some of the post-race show if necessary. At least four races were also televised on free-to-air sister network ABC, including Monaco. After criticism over its handling and timing of adverts during the 2018 Australian Grand Prix (at times cutting off commentators mid-sentence), ESPN announced that it would air races with no commercial interruptions and a single presenting sponsor (American car care brand Mothers). For the 2019 Formula One season, Welcome to the Weekend and Pit Lane Live also became available on the digital subscription service ESPN+.

The light-touch Sky simulcast on ESPN and ABC has been credited with an increase of ratings and acclaim for the series in the United States, improved domestic sponsorship sales for pre- and post-race programming, and an increase in virtual advertising (overlaid by FOM as part of the multilateral world feed) on some trackside hoardings during the race weekend.

Coverage

Formula One

The 2012 season started on 16 March (live practice) from the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Australia. Sky Sports broadcast every practice session, qualifying session and race live. The season passed 19 countries on the way. Formula One visited places as diverse as China, Bahrain, Belgium, Italy, and also United States for a Grand Prix taking place in Austin, Texas at the brand new Circuit of the Americas. The season came to an end at the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix on 25 November 2012.

On 7 March 2012, Sky Sports F1 revealed its theme tune for the 2012 season, "Just Drive" by Alistair Griffin, which has been re-recorded with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Rodolfus Choir. The 43-second opening credits feature archive footage of former world champions and memorable F1 moments from 32 Grands Prix between 1950 and 2011. The theme tune was also used on The F1 Show and for Classic F1. 2014 saw a rearrangement of the theme to go with updated titles. Sky's original arrangement is still of Griffins' song utilised for its coverage of Classic F1 races. From the 2019 season onwards "Just Drive" was replaced by Outlands by Daft Punk, which had previously been featured in the film Tron: Legacy (2010). This theme would be retained by Sky F1 as its main theme during race coverage until the end of the 2025 season. For the 2026 season, after seven seasons of use by Sky F1, Outlands was replaced as the title track for Sky F1's coverage by Just Keep Watching by Tate McRae , a song featured on the pop music soundtrack for the film F1 (2025).https://www.skygroup.sky/en-gb/article/skysports-unveils-plans-for-2026-formula-1-coverage

During the 2012 season, Santander UK was the official sponsor of Formula One coverage on Sky Sports F1 in a deal that was estimated to be worth £3 million. The coverage was sponsored by Shell in 2014. From the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix, FairFX sponsored coverage on Sky Sports F1. For the 2025 season Sky Sport's F1's coverage would be sponsored by German carmaker Audi.https://press.audi.co.uk/releases/916

The season opening 2012 Australian Grand Prix, the first to be broadcast exclusively by Sky, had an average audience of 526,000 viewers between 4:30 am and 9 am on 18 March, with a five-minute peak of 1.02 million as Jenson Button won the race. The BBC's live coverage of the same race last season averaged 2.13 million viewers, a 51.1% share of the audience.

Sky Sports won "Best TV Broadcast Award for Outstanding Coverage" at both the 2012 FIA Prize Giving Ceremony (following Sky Sports F1's debut season presenting Formula One) and again in 2013.

From 2019, Sky Sports held exclusive rights to all races excluding the British Grand Prix. In September 2018, it was announced that Channel 4 had agreed to a sub-licensing agreement with Sky, under which it would broadcast free-to-air highlights of all races, and live coverage of the British Grand Prix. As a condition of the deal, Channel 4 agreed to give Sky the right to carry full series of its drama programming (including its curated foreign dramas collection Walter Presents) on its on-demand platforms. In the 2021 season, Sky also sublicensed the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, amid Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen being tied on points for the drivers' championship going into the final race.

Presentation and commentary team The presentation team currently (as of March 2026) consists of: