Sports
Watching Formula 1 and Motorsport
·5 min read
In Formula 1 the real issue is not the race, it is the hour. Half the calendar sits in Asia, Australia and the Americas, and those races start either at dawn or after midnight Turkish time.
How a race weekend is built
| Day | Session | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Friday | Practice 1 and 2 | 1 hour each |
| Saturday | Practice 3 | 1 hour |
| Saturday | Qualifying | 1 hour |
| Sunday | Race | 1.5 - 2 hours |
Race times by region
| Region | Race time (TRT) | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| Europe | 16.00 | Watchable live |
| Middle East | 18.00 - 20.00 | Watchable live |
| Asia | 08.00 - 10.00 | Early morning |
| Australia | 07.00 | Very early morning |
| Americas | 21.00 - 02.00 | Overnight |
Catch-up is the feature that matters here
A 07.00 race is not something most people watch live. On channels with archive recording the race can be opened after it finishes — the only rule, if you want to watch without knowing the result, is to stay off social media.
The rest of motorsport
- MotoGP: Sunday afternoon, around 14.00 for European rounds
- Formula 2 and Formula 3: inside the F1 weekend, before the race
- WRC and endurance racing: long broadcasts spread across the weekend
Picture quality matters more for racing than for most content: the motion on screen is fast and at a low bitrate the cars smear. Watch the race on an FHD or 4K channel where you can.
