In which countries is Formula 1 still broadcast free-to-air?. Free-to-air F1: where to watch it in 2025? .

The rise of pay TV
Formula 1 has become a global sport thanks to television coverage worldwide, and it was Bernie Ecclestone who saw the lucrative business opportunity in selling TV rights during the 1980s.
The British manager skillfully diversified markets by granting broadcasting rights not only to public broadcasters but also to private ones and later to pay TV networks.
The advent of Liberty Media has not changed the situation, and F1 is now predominantly a pay-TV sport.

Free-to-air F1: where to watch it in 2025?
Over the years—as we well know in Italy—Formula 1 has become increasingly synonymous with subscriptions. However, looking globally, there are countries where viewers can enjoy all 24 races and the feats of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton without spending a dime. Let’s discover them.

In Austria, the broadcasters ORF Eins and Servus TV share the calendar’s races equally, broadcasting all practice sessions, qualifying, and GPs live for free. In Azerbaijan, the state-run Idman Azerbaijan TV has secured the broadcast rights for all scheduled weekends, both on terrestrial digital and cable. A similar arrangement is in place in Luxembourg with the local private broadcaster RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg, in Pakistan with A Sports HD, and in Hungary on M4 Sport.

Romania’s private channel Antena broadcasts practice sessions only on digital platforms, while qualifying and races are shown free-to-air. In Switzerland, the public broadcaster RSI airs all qualifying and races live (sometimes alternating with other channels). A similar qualifying and race scheme is followed in Albania via Euronews Albania and partially in Brazil, where TV Bandeirantes airs only the races.

In China, F1 is free, with three broadcasters covering qualifying and races: Great Sports (for the Shanghai area), Guangdong Sports (for the Guangdong province), and the state-run CCTV (nationwide)—although the latter two occasionally air delayed broadcasts. Only GPs are free in Greece, on ANT1, while practice and qualifying are streamed on ANT1+.

TV rights in Italy
In Italy, exclusive pay-TV rights (Sky Italia) date back to 2018 and will continue until at least the 2027 season, following the latest contract renewal. The satellite broadcaster airs the entire weekend but offers delayed coverage of qualifying and races on its free-to-air channel TV8, and in 2024, it will broadcast the Imola and Monza GPs live. In the past, there wasn’t a complete monopoly by Rai: from 1987 to 1990, the state broadcaster was joined by Telemontecarlo, while from 1991 to 1994, Mediaset entered the TV rights market, securing the broadcast of some GPs (up to a maximum of eight). Mediaset then obtained exclusive rights to all races for 1996 only. From 1997 to 2018, Rai shared the rights with Tele+ first and then Sky for satellite broadcasts.

In the collective memory, the voices of commentators have marked lap after lap the passion of fans: from Piero Casucci (the first in history) to the unforgettable Mario Poltronieri, Ezio Zermiani from the pits, Gianfranco Mazzoni for Rai, Andrea De Adamich and Guido Schittone on Mediaset, up to the unmistakable style of Carlo Vanzini on Sky.