How to watch F1 in 2026: Broadcast guide for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland

The 2026 Formula 1 season, featuring new teams like Audi and Cadillac, major regulation changes, and a title defense from Lando Norris, will be broadcast across a mix of pay-TV and free-to-air channels in German-speaking Europe. Sky Deutschland retains exclusive live rights in Germany, while Austrian and Swiss fans can continue to watch via ORF, ServusTV, and SRF.

Why it matters:

With the sport undergoing its most significant technical and competitive shift in years, fan access to live coverage is crucial. The broadcast landscape remains fragmented, pushing some viewers towards VPN services to access free streams from neighboring countries, highlighting the ongoing challenge of geo-restrictions in modern sports media.

The details:

• In Germany, Sky holds the exclusive live rights through 2027. Its coverage on Sky Sport F1 includes all practice sessions, qualifying, and races, with commentary from Sascha Roos and analysis from Ralf Schumacher and Timo Glock.
• Streaming options in Germany include Sky's own platforms and the WOW service, which offers Sky's sports content without a traditional satellite dish.
• Free-TV coverage on RTL, which showed seven races in 2025, remains uncertain for the 2026 season.
• In Austria, the shared free-to-air model continues. ServusTV and ORF will each broadcast half the season live, splitting the calendar between them.
• In Switzerland, SRF will broadcast qualifying and races live on SRF zwei, with commentary from Oliver Sittler.
• F1 TV Pro is not available for new subscribers in these three regions, leaving existing broadcast deals as the primary viewing method.
• VPN use is explicitly mentioned as a method for viewers to access the free Austrian (ORF, ServusTV) and Swiss (SRF) streams from outside those countries, with the article promoting a specific VPN partner service.

What's next:

The 2026 season kicks off with a new era for the sport, and how fans watch it will largely depend on their location and willingness to navigate the existing broadcast agreements. While Sky's dominance in Germany continues, the free-to-air options in Austria and Switzerland provide a critical access point for many, even if it requires a technological workaround for those outside the broadcast zones. The viewing experience itself will be framed by a dramatically different on-track product, making reliable access to coverage more important than ever.