The 2026 United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin streams exclusively on Apple TV in the US, with the race starting at 4pm ET (1pm PT) on October 25. Apple holds the US rights to every F1 session this season, including all practice, qualifying, Sprint sessions and Grands Prix, under the five year deal it announced in October 2025.
Running from October 23 to 25, the weekend uses the standard format with three practice sessions, so there is no Sprint in Austin this year. Here is the full schedule in US time zones, followed by how to watch.
US Grand Prix session times
Formula 1’s official event page lists the session start times in UTC. Austin is on Central Daylight Time (UTC minus 5) for the weekend, and the East and West Coast are on Eastern Daylight Time (UTC minus 4) and Pacific Daylight Time (UTC minus 7). Daylight saving time does not end in the US until November 1, so these times are on daylight time.
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| Session | Date | ET | CT (Austin) | PT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Practice 1 | Friday, October 23 | 1:30pm | 12:30pm | 10:30am |
| Practice 2 | Friday, October 23 | 5pm | 4pm | 2pm |
| Practice 3 | Saturday, October 24 | 1:30pm | 12:30pm | 10:30am |
| Qualifying | Saturday, October 24 | 5pm | 4pm | 2pm |
| Race | Sunday, October 25 | 4pm | 3pm | 1pm |
Each practice session and qualifying is scheduled for one hour. F1 lists the race at 56 laps.
How to watch in the US
You need an Apple TV subscription to watch the full weekend. Apple lists Apple TV at $12.99 per month with a seven day free trial for new subscribers. The Apple TV app runs on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV 4K, Mac, Apple Vision Pro, smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, VIZIO and TCL, Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices, PlayStation and Xbox, and at tv.apple.com.
When it announced the partnership, Apple said “select races and all practice sessions will also be available for free in the Apple TV app” during the season. That means the three practice sessions in Austin should not need a subscription. Apple has made individual races free before, as it did with the Austrian Grand Prix in June.
Apple also said F1 TV Premium stays available in the US only through an Apple TV subscription, and it is free for subscribers.
If you watch through a pay TV provider, Apple said in February that Xfinity customers get all F1 practice, qualifying, Sprint sessions and Grands Prix in the X1 and Xfinity Stream channel guide. DIRECTV subscribers who get Apple TV through DIRECTV can watch its live sports there too, and EverPass carries Apple TV’s F1 coverage for bars and restaurants.
What the coverage includes
For its race weekends, Apple offers English and Spanish commentary and up to 30 additional live feeds across all sessions. Those include Driver Tracker for a bird’s eye view of the cars, session timing and data feeds, a mixed onboard feed that switches between cameras, and a Podium feed that follows whoever is running in P1, P2 and P3.
Multiview lets you build your own layout, or you can pick a one tap layout preset for each team. Apple described these tools in its Miami Grand Prix preview in April.
Austin is also the first race weekend with Dolby Atmos audio on Apple TV, which we covered separately.
Follow along on iPhone
Apple Sports, the free iPhone app, shows live updates for every qualifying session, Sprint and race. Apple says it includes real time leaderboards, driver and constructor standings, Live Activities on the Lock Screen and an F1 widget for the Home Screen. That is handy if you are away from a TV during qualifying on October 24.
About the Circuit of The Americas
F1 first raced at COTA in 2012, and it was the first United States Grand Prix since the 2007 race at Indianapolis. The track is 5.513km long, and the 56 lap race covers 308.405km.
The lap record of 1:36.169 belongs to Charles Leclerc from 2019. The layout climbs uphill into a wide Turn 1, and F1 compares the run through Turns 3 to 6 with Silverstone and Suzuka and the section from Turns 12 to 15 with Hockenheim.
