TV News: Las Vegas GP F1 race shatters TV viewer numbers

ESPN’s live telecast of the sold out Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday night, Nov. 22, averaged 1.5 million TV viewers, the largest audience to watch the event in its three-year history, based on Nielsen Big Data + Panel data. The inaugural race in 2023 averaged 1.3 million, the previous event record.

Another 109,000 people tuned in for the race replay Sunday evening, bringing the total viewership for the race to 1.6 million TV viewers.

With F1 races averaging 1.3 million TV viewers, ESPN remains on course to set an all-time season record average for F1 viewership in the United States. The existing record average of 1.21 million was set in 2022.

Viewership was up nearly 70 percent over last year’s race, which averaged 905,000 viewers and started at close to 1 a.m. ET. Organizers moved the starting time of this year’s event earlier, with the race telecast running from 10:52 p.m. ET until 12:55 a.m. as Max Verstappen drove to victory and further tightened the F1 driver championship battle with only two races remaining.

Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB21 leads George Russell of Great Britain driving the (63) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W16 and Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (4) McLaren MCL39 Mercedes on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas at Las Vegas Strip Circuit on November 22, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images for Pirelli)

The audience marked the 14^th event viewership record set this season in 22 F1 races, with all but three of the 22 experiencing year-over-year audience growth.

Viewership peaked at 1.8 million between 11:45 p.m. and midnight. The race telecast also attracted 671,000 average TV viewers in the Persons ages 18-49 demographic, an increase of 60 percent over last year’s race.

All but three races this season (Miami, Singapore, Brazil) have seen year-over-year viewership increases. The races setting event viewership records have been Australia, China, Monaco, Spain, Canada, Austria, Great Britain, Belgium, The Netherlands, Italy, Azerbaijan, United States, Mexico and Las Vegas.

The 2025 F1 season will conclude with the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday, Nov. 30, (10:55 a.m., ESPN2), and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday, Dec. 7, (7:55 a.m., ESPN).