James R | On 27, Apr 2019

The 2019 F1 season is underway, with Lewis Hamilton once again defending his Formula 1 crown after winning his fifth title in 2018 at the Mexican Grand Prix, making him the most successful British F1 racer of all time. Can he make it a sixth this year, powered by Mercedes’ V6 turbo engine, or will Ferrari and Red Bull make a convincing play for the top spot?

Fans will be crowded around their screens in the wee small hours of the weekend mornings to find out, as F1 races around the world for each important Grand Prix, including the landmark 1000th World Championship race in China. But how can you watch them all in the UK? When and where are they streaming online legally?

This year, Sky has raced to snap up the exclusive rights for the whole season, broadcasting all 21 races, from practice and qualifying to the grand prix. Only the British Grand Prix will be available to watch live for free on Channel 4, although the broadcaster will still broadcast F1 highlights for each race.

Here’s how that breaks down, kicking offwith the Australian GP on 15th to 17th March 2019.

Channel 4 (1 live race + highlights)

Channel 4 has the rights to 1 live race across the season – the British Grand Prix – plus highlights throughout the season. You can stream those live on All 4, as well as watch them on traditional telly.

Sky Sports (21 live races)

Sky Sports has long been the dominant force on premium, pay-TV sports, competing with rivals such as BT TV for the rights to Premier League football matches. F1 is no exception, and Sky has the exclusive rights to F1 from 2019 onwards. Indeed, Sky Sports recetly repackaged its offering, switching up its previous, numbered approach in favour of themed and dedicated channels. And so we have Sky Sports F1 (Ch. 406), a channel that will show every single race live – and that applies to this season as well as future seasons.

Sky Sports has always been too expensive for many, as lots of people in the UK don’t necessarily want to subscribe to the whole Sky package just to get Sky Sports. And so Sky has chopped and changed its pricing too: customers can now choose to subscribe to one individual channel for £18 per month, or all Sky Sports channels at various bundled prices.

To mark the start of the new F1 season, Sky is also offering Sky Sports F1 for a discounted price of £10 a month until 1st April 2019 to new and existing customers. The fixed, discounted rate applies for 24 months – cancellation can be made with 31 days’ notice, but the offer price will not be redeemable again.

To give you an idea of times, Sky is broadcasting the first race of the season – the Australian Grand Prix – at 1am on Friday 15th March (Practice One), followed by Qualifying at 6am on Saturday 16th March, and then the main event at 5.10am on Sunday 17th March.

NOW (21 live races)

Before Sky started its new approach, the most flexible way to get Sky Sports was through NOW, and that remains true. NOW is Sky’s cord-cutting service, which allows non-Sky customers to access Sky Sports without needing a contract or long-term commitment.

A Sky Sports Day Pass to stream all 10 channels for 24 hours costs £8.99, while a Sky Sports Week Pass costs £14.99. A Sky Sports Month Pass costs £33.99 a month. Each pass automatically renews unless cancelled, but can be cancelled at any time with no extra cost.

The monthly fee is more expensive than the new £27.50 monthly Sky Sports package, but without the full Sky contract, and, with some F1 races taking place within a week of each other, it’s possible to get by on repeated Weekly Pass subscriptions and save money.

Sign up before 31st May 2019, and NOW is offering a Sky Sports F1 Season Ticket for a one-off payment of £195, giving live streaming access to Sky Sports F1 without a contract, and offering all 21 race weekends for what works out as £5 per week.

 

Now you know the how, here’s the when and the where, with a full breakdown of this year’s season, including which broadcast has the rights to which race and when you can watch them:

 

F1 2018 UK TV Calendar

Australian Grand Prix – 16th & 17th March
Live: Sky Sports F1 (6am qualifying & 5.10am race)
Highlights: Channel 4 (12pm qualifying & 2pm race)

Bahrain Grand Prix – 30th & 31st March
Live: Sky Sports F1 (6am qualifying & 5.10am race)
Highlights: Channel 4 (12pm qualifying & 2pm race)

Chinese Grand Prix – 13th & 14th April
Live: Sky Sports F1 (6am qualifying & 5.30am race)
Highlights: Channel 4 (1pm highlights & 3pm race)

Azerbaijan Grand Prix – 27th & 28th April
Live: Sky Sports F1 (2pm qualifying & 11.30am race)
Highlights: Channel 4 (6.30pm highlights & 7pm race)

Spanish Grand Prix – 11th & 12th May
Live: Sky Sports F1
Highlights: Channel 4

Monaco Grand Prix – 25th & 26th May
Live: Sky Sports F1, Channel 4
Highlights: Channel 4

Canadian Grand Prix – 8th & 9th June
Live: Sky Sports F1
Highlights: Channel 4

French Grand Prix – 22nd & 23rd June
Live: Sky Sports F1
Highlights: Channel 4

Austrian Grand Prix – 29th June & 30th June
Live: Sky Sports F1, Channel 4
Highlights: Channel 4

British Grand Prix – 13th & 14th July
Live: Sky Sports F1, Channel 4
Live: Channel 4

German Grand Prix – 27th & 28th July
Live: Sky Sports F1
Highlights: Channel 4

Hungarian Grand Prix – 3rd & 4th August
Live: Sky Sports F1
Highlights: Channel 4

Belgian Grand Prix – 31st August & 1st September
Live: Sky Sports F1, Channel 4
Highlights: Channel 4

Italian Grand Prix – 7th & 8th September
Live: Sky Sports F1
Highlights: Channel 4

Singapore Grand Prix – 21st & 22nd September
Live: Sky Sports F1, Channel 4
Highlights: Channel 4

Russian Grand Prix – 28th & 29th September
Live: Sky Sports F1
Highlights: Channel 4

Japanese Grand Prix – 12th & 13th October
Live: Sky Sports F1, Channel 4
Highlights: Channel 4

US Grand Prix – 2nd & 3rd November
Live: Sky Sports F1, Channel 4
Highlights: Channel 4

Mexican Grand Prix – 26th & 27th October
Live: Sky Sports F1
Highlights: Channel 4

Brazilian Grand Prix – 16th & 17th November
Live: Sky Sports F1
Highlights: Channel 4

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – 31st November & 1st December
Live: Sky Sports F1, Channel 4
Highlights: Channel 4

 

Terms and Conditions for NOW Sky Sports F1® Season Ticket: One-off payment. 18+, UK only. At the end of the pre-paid period (9 months) Sky Sports Month Pass automatically renews at £33.99pm unless cancelled. Offer ends 11.59pm Offer not available in conjunction with any other NOW offer/Combo/promotion. Cancel any time. NOW account set up with debit/credit card required. NOW terms apply (nowtv.com/terms). Content streamed via internet (costs may apply). One Sky Sports Pass in your account at any one time. Red button and interactive services are unavailable. All live scheduling subject to change. The F1 Logo, F1, FORMULA 1, FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, GRAND PRIX and related marks are trademarks of Formula One Licensing BV, a Formula 1 company. All rights reserved.

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