Middle-Of-The-Night Australian Grand Prix Sets New Record For Viewership On ESPN

Formula 1's Australian Grand Prix is always a tough one to get Americans to watch, as it takes place in the middle of the godforsaken night here, but the popularity of the sport continues its immense growth here in the U.S. as ESPN reports last weekend's race was the most watched Aussie GP of all time. With a peak of 1.3 million Americans tuning in to watch the lights go out, this could be a record-setting season for viewership. Considering the Australian Grand Prix turned its first lap in anger well after midnight on the east coast, it's impressive that seven-figures worth of folks stayed up to catch the action. I was one of them, of course, and I attended a fully-packed watch party at a bar in my neighborhood. That's something I couldn't possibly fathom when I first started watching F1 a couple decades ago. It's clear that Americans are really getting onboard. 

ESPN could be on the chopping block with the 2025 season being the final year in its long-term broadcast rights contract and IndyCar recently moving to network broadcast with a big push from Fox. Big numbers like these could allow ESPN to bid for the contract again to continue gaining momentum next season. Last year's Miami Grand Prix was ESPN's most-watched race, but that record could also be smashed later this year. Open wheel racing is more popular in the U.S. than maybe any time since it began.

According to reports from Racer, the race at Albert Park last weekend more than doubled the viewership on ESPN as it saw in 2024 when Carlos Sainz took victory when a dominant Max Verstappen retired with brake issues. Last season, Australia was third on the calendar and Verstappen had driven away from the pack in a wild show of early-season dominance at the first and second rounds, dampening American enthusiasm for a middle-of-the-night watch, so that checks out. With an average of 1.1 million viewers across the entire two-hours-plus broadcast, many of us went to bed in the wee hours of Sunday morning after a pretty incredible wet-dry-wet race with many safety car breaks seeing Lando Norris on the top step of the podium.  

The next race in the F1 calendar takes place this weekend in Shanghai. This will be another difficult one for Americans as it starts at 3 a.m. eastern on Sunday. It will be interesting to see if viewership trends continue to show record numbers, and whether a competitive field of teams and racers will keep Americans coming back for more. "Drive To Survive" on Netflix may have re-ignited the F1 passion among American viewers, but good on-track action and drivers people can relate to and cheer for will keep us hanging around.