Formula 1 has agreed a new long-standing partnership with Sky as part of a new commercial package spanning the UK, Ireland and Italy
Sky Sports and Formula 1 have extended their broadcast partnership across the UK, Ireland, and Italy, securing exclusive coverage rights into the next decade in one of the sport’s most significant media agreements in recent years.
Per the renewed terms, Sky will continue to broadcast every practice session, qualifying, sprint race, and Grand Prix across Sky Sports and streaming platform NOW in the UK and Republic of Ireland through the 2034 season – an extension of five further seasons from the current arrangement. Italian fans on Sky Italia will have coverage locked in through 2032.
The deal also preserves existing free-to-air provisions: in the UK, Grand Prix highlights and the British Grand Prix will remain available without a subscription, while Italian viewers will continue to access every race live on TV8, including the Italian Grand Prix.
Beyond the headline races, the agreement maintains Sky’s broader motorsport offering, with Formula 2, Formula 3, F1 Academy, and the Porsche Supercup all continuing to feature – giving fans a full pipeline of emerging talent alongside the premier series.
Formula 1: Record audiences drive renewal confidence
Since Sky became the exclusive home of F1 in the UK and Ireland in 2019, total viewership in those markets has risen 90%, with the under-35 demographic up 120% and female viewership more than doubling.
The 2025 season delivered a record 162 million viewer hours across the UK and Ireland – the most watched F1 season Sky has ever broadcast. Even across just the last three seasons from 2023 to 2025, viewing grew a further 14%, suggesting the sport’s popularity is still accelerating rather than plateauing.
Italy is showing similarly encouraging early signals in 2026, with viewership up 25% on the back of Ferrari‘s competitive form and the emergence of Kimi Antonelli.
The young Italian driver’s maiden Formula 1 victory at the Chinese Grand Prix pulled 1.2 million viewers on Sky and a further 1.4 million on free-to-air TV8 – numbers that will have strengthened both parties’ appetite to extend.
Formula 1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali pointed to Sky’s production quality and on-screen talent as key factors in the sport’s growth across the three markets. “Their world-leading approach to live broadcasting, content creation, and behind-the-scenes analysis has made the difference,” he said, adding that the broadcaster’s commitment had been central to building F1’s fanbase in the region.
Sky Group CEO Dana Strong added: “This new agreement secures Sky as the home of Formula 1 for years to come, as the sport enters an exciting era with more British talent on the grid and rising stars like Kimi Antonelli.
Her reference to British talent is notable given the anticipated arrival of new British drivers in the coming seasons, and suggests Sky sees significant commercial upside in marketing the sport to domestic audiences with a homegrown story to tell.
With the deal running to 2034 in the UK and Ireland, Sky’s position as the defining broadcast home of Formula 1 in those markets is now settled for the foreseeable future.
