Overview
- ESPN’s telecast averaged about 1.52 million viewers, the best in the race’s three-year run and roughly 70% above 2024’s 905,000.
- The race began just before 11 p.m. ET, two hours earlier than prior years, and it retained about three-quarters of a smaller college football lead‑in.
- Viewership peaked near 1.8 million at 11:45 p.m. ET during Max Verstappen’s victory.
- The Vegas audience was roughly on par with October’s United States Grand Prix on ABC, which drew about 1.54 million despite a Sunday afternoon NFL window.
- ESPN reports broad season gains across F1 races, though Nielsen’s 2025 out‑of‑home expansion and Big Data + Panel shift complicate comparisons, and Apple TV becomes the exclusive U.S. rightsholder next season after the Dec. 7 Abu Dhabi finale.