After an absence of nearly two years due to the pandemic, the FIA Formula One World Championship™ will return to the United States and North America this weekend with Sunday’s FORMULA 1 ARAMCO UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX 2021 at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. The race will air live on ABC at 3 p.m. ET with coverage beginning at 1:30 p.m.
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ESPN and ABC are bringing Sky Sports’ award-winning presentation of F1® to American viewers and with this race being in her home country, former IndyCar and NASCAR star Danica Patrick will be part of the Sky presentation and punditry team with former F1® drivers Jenson Button and Martin Brundle.
ESPN and ABC will surround the race telecast with content on SportsCenter, Good Morning America, ESPN Deportes and on ESPN digital platforms.
With only six races remaining in the hotly-contested season, seven-time and defending World Champion Lewis Hamilton, who recently won his record 100th F1® race, is chasing Max Verstappen in the series standings as the season nears its conclusion. Verstappen, winner of seven races this season, is seeking his first World Championship.
In addition to Sunday’s race telecast, qualifying and all three practice sessions will air on ESPN networks on Friday and Saturday with streaming of all sessions and the race on the ESPN App. The race and qualifying telecasts will air commercial-free with sponsorship from Mothers Polish. ESPN Deportes will air the race, qualifying and the three practice sessions in Spanish.
Also surrounding the race telecasts:
- SportsCenter anchor Nicole Briscoe will be on-site at the event and will co-anchor the 7 a.m. ET editions of the ESPN news and information program from Circuit of the Americas on both Saturday and Sunday. Briscoe, who hosts F1® telecasts on ESPN, also will have reports within other editions of SportsCenter.
- ABC News senior meteorologist Rob Marciano will be at the event and will do reports for ABC’s Good Morning America.
- ESPN Deportes will have reporter Katia Castorena on location in Austin for the network’s Spanish-language version of SportsCenter and for programs that air in the U.S. in Spanish on ESPN Deportes. Reports also will air on ESPN Mexico. The Mexican Red Bull Racing Formula 1® driver Sergio Perez will be one focus of the coverage.
- The year-round coverage on ESPN’s dedicated F1® website will continue the week of the United States Grand Prix with in-depth features, interviews and analysis.
- Prior to the ESPN Monday Night Football game between the Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans on Oct. 18, Monday Night Countdown aired a feature with F1® driver Daniel Ricciardo and Bills’ quarterback Josh Allen, who are friends, doing a helmet exchange.
Formula 1® returned to its original U.S. television home in 2018 – the first race ever aired in the country was on ABC in 1962. The races also aired on ESPN from 1984-1997.
F1® racing on ESPN and ESPN2 has seen large increases in viewership this season. Through the first 15 races of 2021, the races on ESPN and ESPN2 are averaging 916,000 viewers, up 51 percent over the entire 2020 season average of 608,000 viewers and 39 percent higher vs. the average of 660,000 viewers for the first 15 comparable races in 2019.
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