{"id":1951,"date":"2025-12-11T23:57:54","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T23:57:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/?p=1951"},"modified":"2025-12-15T22:04:57","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T22:04:57","slug":"espn-bows-out-of-formula-1-with-a-record-shattering-finale-in-the-united-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/sports-media\/espn-bows-out-of-formula-1-with-a-record-shattering-finale-in-the-united-states\/","title":{"rendered":"ESPN Bows Out of Formula 1 with a Record-Shattering Finale in the United States"},"content":{"rendered":"
In a fitting and triumphant farewell to one of the most remarkable turnarounds in American sports television history, ESPN concluded its eight-year run as the U.S. home of the Formula 1 World Championship by delivering the highest single-season viewership average ever recorded for the series on American screens.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

F1’s biggest season yet<\/h2>\n
The 2025 season, featuring an expanded 24-race calendar, averaged an extraordinary 1.3 million viewers per race across ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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This figure eclipsed the previous all-time high of 1.21 million set in 2022\u2014also on ESPN platforms\u2014and represented a stunning 135% increase from the 554,000 average when the network reclaimed U.S. rights in 2018.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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The season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on December 7, 2025, provided a spectacular capstone. Broadcast on ESPN starting in the early Sunday morning hours for U.S. audiences, the race averaged 1.5 million viewers and peaked at 1.8 million, according to Nielsen\u2019s Big Data + Panel metrics. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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It became the 16th individual race of the 2025 season to establish a new all-time viewership record for that specific event on U.S. television.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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In total, 16 of the 24 grands prix in 2025 set new benchmarks: Australia, China, Monaco, Spain, Canada, Austria, Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Azerbaijan, the United States Grand Prix at Austin, Mexico, Las Vegas, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi all posted the highest audiences ever seen for those races in the American market. Only three events\u2014Miami, Singapore, and Brazil\u2014did not show year-over-year growth, with the remaining 21 races all recording increases compared to 2024.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

F1’s year-to-year growth<\/h3>\n
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To fully appreciate the scale of this growth, consider the season-by-season trajectory since Formula 1 returned to ESPN<\/a> networks in 2018 after a 20-year absence from the family of channels:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n