- First Azerbaijan GP to average over 1m viewers on ESPN
- Event records 27.2% YoY viewership increase
Formula One averaged 1.1 million viewers for last weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix on ESPN in the US, marking the 11th event record of the 2025 season for the Disney-owned broadcaster.
It was also the first time the race has ever drawn more than one million US viewers. The Grand Prix began at 7am ET, making live viewing particularly challenging for audiences further west, which underscores the significance of this result.
The audience represented a 27.2 per cent year-over-year (YoY) increase, the largest gain for ESPN since the Belgian Grand Prix, which was up 27.3 per cent on 2024.
Last year, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was one of nine races to fall short of the one-million mark on ESPN, but in 2025 that has happened only twice. Formula One remains firmly on course for its strongest season for viewership in the US.
Through 17 races, the series is averaging 1.33 million viewers, ahead of its previous benchmark of 1.18 million at the same stage in 2024. Last season ultimately concluded with an average of 1.13 million.
At the time of writing, Nascar had yet to release viewership figures for last weekend’s playoff race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
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