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

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.