F1 has now confirmed the dates for the first eight races of 2020, but all will run without spectators and “under the strongest safety procedures”.
As was planned, the first two will be on the first two weekends in July in Austria. Teams will then fly to Hungary for the third round on 17-19 July, followed by two rounds at Silverstone in the UK on 2 August and 9 August.
Then it’s on to Barcelona in Spain on 16 August, Belgium on 30 August and Italy on 6 September.
In the meantime, F1 has set up a virtual racing series using the official F1 2019 game and you can watch this in place of the real races on the days they were scheduled to be held. Here’s how to watch virtual F1 races, including this weekend’s race at Monaco. The real event was cancelled a while back.
Here are all the races which were due to happen up until the end of June and their status.
| Australian Grand Prix | 15 March | Cancelled |
| Bahrain Grand Prix | 22 March | Postponed |
| Vietman Grand Prix | 5 April | Postponed |
| Chinese Grand Prix | 19 April | Postponed |
| Dutch Grand Prix | 3 May | Postponed |
| Spanish Grand Prix | 10 May | Postponed |
| Monaco Grand Prix | 24 May | Cancelled |
| Azerbaijan Grand Prix | 7 June | Postponed |
| Canadian Grand Prix | 14 June | Postponed |
| French Grand Prix | 28 June | Cancelled |
Watching F1 races for free is becoming increasingly difficult and – at some point – it will almost certainly become a pay-to-watch sport. However, for the moment at least, you have the choice of watching on Channel 4 in the UK or paying for the F1 channel on Sky.
How to watch every F1 race for free in the UK
Although Sky has the exclusive rights to show live races in the UK, part of the deal it struck with Bernie Ecclestone before F1 was sold to Liberty Media was that highlights must be available on a free-to-air TV channel that’s widely available.
The deal runs until 2024, but there’s good news for fans because a new arrangement with Sky means that extended highlights of both qualifying and races can be shown on Channel 4 only two and a half hours after the race ends, instead of the three-hour delay in 2019. (They won’t all be shown this soon – the Australian GP highlights will be broadcast on Sunday afternoon.)
This means the whole show will last 2.5 hours instead of 2, and can cover 70 percent of the action. That equates to about an hour of actual racing rather than 45 minutes.
Better still, this agreement extends until the end of 2022.
You can watch Channel 4 on your TV, of course, but you can also watch using the All 4 app on your phone or tablet, or in a web browser via Channel 4’s website.
How to watch F1 races on Sky and NowTV
If you’re happy to pay a subscription fee so you can watch entire races live, then Sky is the only option in the UK. While Liberty operates an online streaming service – F1 TV Pro – you can’t watch it in the UK because of Sky’s exclusive deal.
Because of coronavirus, sports have all been postponed. But we expect Sky will soon bring back some sort of offer when it restarts in July.
Prior to the pandemic you could get Sky Sports F1 for £10 per month (minimum of 12 months), or Complete Sports (all the sports channels) for £20 per month. You needed to sign up for an 18-month contract for the latter, though.
There’s no requirement to have Sky TV: you can subscribe via Sky’s streaming service, Now TV. That’s available on your phone, tablet, games consoles, via a web browser and also via a Now TV streaming stick.
When does the first F1 Grand prix in Austria start in the UK?
The first race will be in Austria at the Red Bull Ring on Sunday 5 July.
- Round 1: Austria. Start time TBC (likely 2.10pm).
If you’re unable to get to a TV or record broadcasts, you can watch them later on Sky and Channel 4’s catch-up services.
Can you get F1 TV Pro in the UK?
Annoyingly, no, you can’t. In case you didn’t know, F1 TV Pro is the official streaming service of Forumla 1 but you can’t get it in the UK because of Sky’s exclusive deal for live races.
F1 TV Pro is only available the US where it costs $79.99 per year. You can also buy it in a few other countries including the Netherlands where it is €7.99 per month.
In the UK, all you can access is the live timing service which costs £2.29 per month. We don’t advise using a VPN to buy the service from the US or Netherlands: it’s likely your VPN will be detected and Liberty Media, which runs F1, says your subscription will be terminated with no refund.
Can I watch F1 online in 2020?
Indeed you can. Coverage is available using the following apps:
Note that you cannot watch live on the All 4 app. Highlights are made available at some point later in the day after the race.
Sky
To watch races on Sky you need to subscribe to its TV service. Sky will be broadcasting practice, qualifying and races in Ultra HD, but they’re also in HD depending upon your subscription. You can find out more on Sky’s website.
Now TV
As we said above, you can still watch Sky Sports F1 without being a Sky customer as the channel is also available on Now TV. This is sky’s streaming service, which you can watch via the Now TV Player app on a laptop, PC, Mac, phone or tablet, or Sky’s own Now TV Stick which connects to an HDMI input on your TV.
Is there really no way to watch F1 races live for free?
Officially, no. But there is a way. And it’s free if you have a satellite dish and receiver which can pick up RTL Germany. That’s because F1 races are still shown there on the free-to-air channel. Unless you’re fluent in German the commentary isn’t going to mean much, but you can get English commentary by tuning into Radio 5 Live (you can use the iPlayer Radio app on your phone if you don’t have an actual radio).
If you haven’t already got a suitable dish and set-top box, there’s little point in investing in one as you’ll pay around the same price to watch F1 on Now TV. But it could work out to be cheaper if you plan to watch F1 for the next few years and RTL continues to broadcast it.
2020 F1 schedule
Here’s the schedule as originally published, and we’ll update it once F1 has announced the revised timetable.
| Australian Grand Prix | Cancelled (was 15 March) | Sky, 5.10am |
| Bahrain Grand Prix | Postponed (22 March) | Sky, 3.10pm |
| Vietman Grand Prix | Postponed (5 April) | Sky, 8.10am |
| Chinese Grand Prix | Postponed (was 19 April) | Sky, TBC |
| Dutch Grand Prix | Postponed | Sky, 2.10pm |
| Spanish Grand Prix | Postponed | Sky, 2.10pm |
| Monaco Grand Prix | Cancelled | Sky, 2.10pm |
| Azerbaijan Grand Prix | Postponed | Sky, 2.10pm |
| Canadian Grand Prix | Postponed | Sky, 7.10pm |
| French Grand Prix | Cancelled | Sky, 2.10pm |
| Round 1: Austria | 5 July | Sky, 2.10pm TBC |
| Round 2: Austria | 12 July | Sky, 2.10pm TBC |
| Round 3: Hungary | 19 July | Sky, 2.10pm TBC |
| Round 4: Great Britain | 2 August | Sky, 3.10pm TBC |
| Round 5: Great Britain | 9 August | Sky, 3.10pm TBC |
| Round 6: Spain | 16 August | Sky, 2.10pm TBC |
| Round 7: Belgium | 30 August | Sky, 2.10pm TBC |
| Round 8: Italy | 6 September | Sky, 2.10pm |
| Singapore Grand Prix | TBC | TBC |
| Russian Grand Prix | TBC | TBC |
| Japanese Grand Prix | TBC | TBC |
| United States Grand Prix | TBC | TBC |
| Mexican Grand Prix | TBC | TBC |
| Brazilian Grand Prix | TBC | TBC |
| Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | TBC | TBC |
How to watch F1 with a VPN
If you’re not in the UK when a particular race is shown, you can watch it using the Sky Go app on your phone or tablet, but that’s only if you have the right level of subscription in place with Sky. And if you’re not with Sky, then you can still watch highlights on the All 4 app if you use a VPN with a UK server, such as NordVPN, ExpressVPN and Hidden24.
Via Techadvisor