- Apple TV kicks off its F1 partnership in the US with the Australian Grand Prix
- It’ll stream on the Apple TV for subscribers with 30 views and multi-view streams
- Apple is also working with Netflix to stream the new season of F1: Drive to Survive
Next week is shaping up to be a pretty busy one for Apple, as, besides the March 4, 2026, event, Apple TV and the rest of the Cupertino-based giant’s services will formally kick off its partnership with Formula 1 by streaming the first race to US audiences.
The Australian Grand Prix will be the first streamed on Apple TV to all subscribers in the US, giving us our first chance to see the new interface Apple has been working on to deliver the race from a plethora of viewpoints at up to full 4K resolution with 5.1 audio and the ability to watch multiple viewpoints at once in either a custom format or a pre-made one.
Speaking to media, including TechRadar, Apple’s Eddy Cue – SVP of Services – is pretty excited about F1’s arrival on Apple TV and is admittedly a fan of the sport: “You don’t know what the outcome of the content is; this is unscripted drama at its best.”
We’ll see the first fruits of this “unscripted drama” when the Australian Grand Prix kicks off – “all Apple TV subscribers in the US will get access to the full coverage of Formula 1. That’s pre-game, the qualifying, sprint races, practices, the races, post-races… and so you’re going to get full access in a single place,” explained Cue.
“This will be the highest quality; you’re going to be able to do things with multi-view and all kinds of things that haven’t been done before. And so you’re going to have a front-row seat to the action in a way that you haven’t seen before,” said Cue.
And I got a chance to preview this new interface, and as expected, Formula 1 will be right at home within the Apple TV app – whether you’re accessing it on an Apple TV 4K or third-party devices.
You can navigate to it on the floating left sidebar, but on race day – as we’ve seen with game day for Major League Soccer or Friday Night Baseball – it will be front and center, allowing you to jump right into the live race. And it’s not just one feed that will be produced live with cuts; Apple TV will offer up to 30 unique viewpoints, ranging from fixed cameras around the track to driver views and more traditional broadcast angles. Those viewpoints will be available for every race, not just the major events.
Another feature Cue teased – and one we expected for Formula 1 on Apple TV – is multi-view. This will be available via the Apple TV app on the big screen, but also on Apple Vision Pro. You’ll be able to make your own layout with one main screen and two or three alternate views off to the right, or pick from pre-determined layouts focused on specific teams, like McLaren.
While Apple isn’t sharing details on whether Formula 1 will be available in the Apple Immersive Video format on Apple Vision Pro, the company has upgraded multi-view on the $3,500 spatial computer to support up to five views at once. Considering Apple Immersive Video is available for select NBA games, I’d expect to see at least one F1 race with this treatment, but time will tell.
Apple’s F1 partnership will also extend across its services, with more detailed views of race courses – down to team garages – in Apple Maps, a dedicated section in Apple News, playlists in Apple Music, and even related content in Podcasts.
Another notable aspect of Apple TV’s Formula 1 coverage is that it comes at no additional cost, meaning that if you’re already subscribed to Apple TV to watch shows like Shrinking, The Studio, or Severance, you’ll get access to all the F1 races and a large library of on-demand content. You’ll also be able to watch Friday Night Baseball and MLS matches once those seasons kick off.
A collab with Netflix
Even more surprising was Eddy Cue announcing a new collaboration with Netflix that will make fans of Drive to Survive especially happy: “We’ve teamed up with Netflix. And we’re going to make the entire season of F1: Drive to Survive, the new season, available to stream right within Apple TV itself.”
Meaning that when Season 8 premieres at midnight tonight, February 27, 2026, it will be available on Netflix and natively within the Apple TV app for subscribers.
Eddy shared, “Netflix, I think, has played a pivotal role in growing F1 since the launch of Drive to Survive, and we’re thrilled to make F1 content more broadly available to new and existing US fans on both Netflix and Apple TV.” It’s a notable collaboration between the two streaming giants, and one that will extend to the Canadian Grand Prix on May 22, 2026, which will now stream on both Netflix and Apple TV.
Consider this just the green flag, not the finish line – Apple’s history with Friday Night Baseball and MLS Season Pass shows a pattern of launching solid experiences and then rapidly iterating with new features, camera tech, and deeper service integrations.
So given Apple’s work on specialized camera systems for its upcoming F1 film, it’s fair to wonder whether similar technology – or even iPhone-based rigs – could eventually make their way into live race broadcasts.
For now, though, the biggest win may be scale: by bundling Formula 1 into Apple TV+ at no extra cost, Apple could dramatically expand the sport’s reach in the US pretty quickly, and if you’re interested and an Apple TV subscriber, the Australian Grand Prix kicks off on Saturday, March 7, 2026.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
And of course, you can also follow TechRadar on YouTube and TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/yDopDPsKQfsuxVibqCh4eg-1920-80.png
Source link
jacob.krol@futurenet.com (Jacob Krol)
