The 76th edition of the Formula One World Championship saw McLaren’s Lando Norris join an exclusive list featuring just 35 drivers in the sport’s history.
The 2025 champion did not make things easy for himself, with Red Bull and Max Versappen’s unexpected late title surge easing fears among Formula One executives about a procession harming broadcast and engagement figures.
Instead, the series benefited from a rare three-way final race shootout – a fitting farewell to the ground effect era.
Next year, the competitive landscape changes once again. Evolved regulations will see smaller cars, a greater reliance on battery power, and a revamp of the aerodynamics in the hopes of producing better on-track racing. 2026 will also see the addition of Cadillac as the 11th team, while the likes of Ford, Audi and Honda will join the grid as part of various team agreements.
But, before then, BlackBook Motorsport unpacks the headline numbers from a tightly contested season.
US growth underlines wider viewership trends
Formula One maintained an upward trajectory in terms of viewership, with each race weekend watched by an approximate global audience of 70 million.
The Belgian Grand Prix attracted the largest weekend audience of the season as over 80 million viewers tuned in, suggesting that sprint weekends are proving successful in attracting more eyeballs to the sport.
There was also strong year-on-year viewership growth seen in markets like Germany (up 12 per cent), Brazil (11 per cent), and France (six per cent). China and the Middle East grew 11 per cent and ten per cent respectively, while Australia saw a huge 55 per cent boost in viewers thanks to Norris’s teammate Oscar Piastri’s battle it out for the title.
The US, which offers the most detailed audience figures, offer an indicator of wider trends.
Formula One averaged a record 1.32 million viewers on US television during 2025. All but three of this year’s 24 races recorded higher ratings than last year and 16 set event viewership records, marking a successful finale to ESPN’s broadcast relationship with the series.
ESPN averaged just 554,000 during the first year of its partnership with Formula One in 2018, highlighting how much the series has grown stateside.
As expected, races held in North and South America in more favourable time zones averaged the best at 1.56 million. But Grands Prix from the Middle East also performed surprisingly well with an average audience of 1.41 million viewers.
European races contributed an average audience of 1.33 million, while the Asia-Pacific races understandably struggled with just over 848,000 viewers. It should be noted that these were all record figures for the respective regions.
The peak of the season was the 2.3 million average recorded at the Grand Prix, edging out the 2.2 million posted by Miami.
Most impressively, only four races dropped below an average of one million followers this year, underlining the greater audience consistency and retention across the season.
Next year, the championship embarks on a new broadcast era with Apple, reducing exposure and available audience – at least in the short term.
Fans continue to turn up at track and online
Race attendance improved from 6.5 million last season to a record 6.7 million in 2025. As many as 19 out of 24 races sold out and 11 attracted a record number of spectators. Four race weekends attracted more than 400,000, including Australia (465,000) and Great Britain (500,000).
There were also particularly strong weekend attendances in Monza (369,000), Canada (352,000), and Belgium (389,000). The Las Vegas Grand Prix also enjoyed a strong third year on the calendar with a sold-out crowd of over 300,000.
However, it’s a reality that only around one per cent of Formula One fans will ever attend a Grand Prix, so engaging fans away from the circuit remains equally, if not more, important to the continued success of the sport.
The series estimates that its global fanbase now stands at 827 million, making it the world’s most popular annual sporting series – 11.4 per cent more than the National Basketball Association (NBA) in second.
The fanbase also continues to get younger, with 43 per cent being under 35 years old. An estimated 51 million fans under the age of 35 have become Formula One fans in the past year. Since 2024, 43 million women have become fans and 42 per cent of the fanbase are now female – up from 37 per cent in 201.
In terms of distribution, there are now 115.4 million fans in Europe, 16.7 million in the UK, 221.1 million in China, and 78.8 million in India. The US, the most important expansion market, has grown 11 per cent year-on-year to 52 million.
Formula One is also the fastest growing global sports league on social media for the fifth year in a row, with its total following rising 19 per cent to 114.5 million – up from18.7 million in 2018.
Particularly strong growth was witnessed on TikTok (up 91 per cent), with the likes of YouTube (53 per cent), Facebook (51 per cent), and Instagram (25 per cent) also performing well.
Chinese platforms such as Weibo, WeChat, Toutiao, and Douyin have also enjoyed significant growth, increasing 35 per cent compared to 2024.
The season finale in Abu Dhabi saw Formula One’s social media channels register the most impressions and engagements ever across Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube and Facebook.
Formula One’s YouTube channel highlights have grown 33 per cent year-on-year, while the Passenger Princess series with content creator Amelia Dimoldenberg has generated 263 million views for the sport across all channels.
F1 consolidates position as commercial powerhouse
Since 2020, Formula One has nearly tripled its number of partners from 12 to 31, reflecting its growing commercial strength.
LVMH Group and Lego kickstarted previously-announced deals, with nine of the former’s brands securing partnership designations and the latter continuing its record of viral activations.
A drivers’ parade involving ten life-size cars at the Miami Grand Prix reached an estimated audience of 12 billion and was the most-viewed piece of content ever on Formula One’s TikTok. It was also the most popular partner content on Formula One’s Instagram of all time.
In terms of deals agreed this season, Allwyn and ALT Sports Data signed on as official partners ahead of an expected push to increase Formula One’s betting capabilities next year.
Barilla then became an official partner of the sport at the Bahrain Grand Prix, before PwC signed on as the sports’ official consulting partner.
Formula One then announced a deal with Disney’s Mickey and Friends. This officially starts in 2026, but the two collaborated on multiple activations throughout this year, including at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
At the end of May, PepsiCo signed on as an official partner until 2030. Specifically, Sting Energy nabbed the official energy drink rights, Gatorade secured naming rights to the sprint races, and Doritos became the series’ official savoury snack.
Multiple licensing deals were agreed towards the end of the season, including with Pottery Barn Kids and Pottery Barn Teen, while F1 will be integrated into Fortnite and receive an officially-licensed version of Uno.
Rounding out the year, T-Mobile signed a deal to become the regional 5G innovation partner of Formula One from 2026, while global partners MSC Cruises and Heineken both agreed contract extensions with the championship.
Formula One also agreed multiple long-term race extensions, with the majority of events now tied to the calendar into the 2030s.
The Belgian Grand Prix signed an alternating contract from 2027 until 2031, and Mexico City will remain on the schedule until 2028.
Miami and Austria agreed deals until 2041, Canada and Monaco extended until 2035, and the US Grand Prix at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) will remain until 2034. The Azerbaijan Grand Prix was also extended until 2030.
Just before the close of the year, Formula One also announced a surprise new deal to return to Portugal in 2027 and 2028. The short-term deal with Portimão will act as a replacement for the departing Dutch Grand Prix.
Formula One is in an enviable position when it comes to its expanding popularity and commercial success. The hope now is that the new regulations deliver a better on-track product that can truly maximise the wider off-track progress.
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