Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB21 leads Oscar Piastri of Australia driving the (81) McLaren MCL39 Mercedes Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (4) McLaren MCL39 Mercedes and the rest of the field at the start during the F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain at Silverstone Circuit on July 06, 2025 in Northampton, England. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool //
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TV News: USA weekend Motorsports TV Viewers/TV Ratings

Posted by AR1 staff

TV viewer numbers for this past weekend’s major motorsports TV broadcasts. Formula 1 raced at Silverstone, NASCAR in Chicago, and IndyCar at Mid-Ohio.

Formula 1

ESPN2’s live telecast of the Formula 1 British Grand Prix on Sunday, July 6, averaged 1.5 million TV viewers, up 19% over last year’s race and the largest audience ever for the event on U.S. television, per Nielsen. The audience peaked at 1.8 million TV Viewers between 11:30-11:45 a.m. ET as Lando Norris closed out a popular first home country win.

11 of 12 races held so far this season have had year-over-year viewership growth and seven of the 12 have set event viewership records.

The British Grand Prix audience was up from last year’s viewership of 1.3 million, which at the time was the largest ever for the race. The race also averaged 629,000 TV viewers (48%) in the Persons ages 18-49 demographic, dwarfing NASCAR and IndyCar, which are always under 20%.

Of the 12 F1 races held so far this season, all but one (Miami) have seen year-over-year viewership increases and seven of the 12 (Australia, China, Monaco, Spain, Canada, Austria and Britain) scored event record audiences. The audience for the Monaco Grand Prix was the third-largest live audience ever for a Formula 1 race on U.S. television.

Across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, F1 races are averaging 1.3 million TV viewers, up seven percent over the season-to-date average for the 2024 season and up 17 percent over the full 2024 season average.

In the younger demographic of Persons ages 18-49, races are averaging 511,000 viewers, up 14 percent over the 2024 season to date average and up 24 percent over the full 2024 season average.

F1 now has a 2-week break before racing again at Spa on July 27 on ESPN.

NASCAR

TNT + TruTV got 2.1 million TV viewers for Sunday’s third edition of the NASCAR Cup race in Chicago, down 46% from 3.9 million TV viewers last year on NBC and down 54.3% from 4.6 million TV viewers in 2023 in the inaugural running on NBC network.

“Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration is open to two more years of the NASCAR Chicago Street Race, but only after exploring the possibility of shifting the marquee event to a different date that does not pose the ‘challenges that July 4th weekend presents.'”

IndyCar

The 2025 IndyCar race at Mid-Ohio, the Honda Indy 200, averaged a total audience of 1.29 million viewers on FOX, down 1.53% from 1.31 million TV viewers on NBC in 2024. This year’s figure includes both traditional TV and digital streaming viewership.