Apple previewed its F1 viewing experience on Thursday, promising 4K video, new multi-view features and integrations across all its apps. The F1 season -- and Apple’s tenure as its U.S. broadcast partner -- begins on March 7 in Australia. Races will be streamed to all Apple TV subscribers, with additional activations in Apple Fitness, Maps, Music, News and Podcasts.
“This really goes beyond just a rights deal,” Apple SVP/Services Eddy Cue said. “We look at F1 and Apple TV as a true partnership where we’re going to amplify this sport across all of our Apple services.”
While the biggest news from the Thursday media session is a collaboration with Netflix to stream Drive to Survive Season 8 through Apple TV, Cue and F1 executive Ian Holmes shared their vision for how they can grow the sport in the U.S. Cue noted that, while F1 has dramatically risen in popularity domestically, it’s still “relatively small to the size of the fan base.” He believes Apple has a chance to help boost those numbers significantly over the next five years.
“We’re really looking at how we can grow the sport in the US, how we can be relevant, how we can have as much compelling content available for existing fans, older fans, newer fans,” said Holmes, F1’s Chief Media Rights & Broadcasting Officer. “We are probably the only sport in the world whose audience is getting younger and more female-skewed.”
The highlighted features include:
- Races will be shown in 4K with Dolby Vision and Audio capabilities, with Cue noting that Apple is able compress the video less than most broadcasters for the sharpest possible image.
- All live content will be easily accessible through the F1 landing page, including practices, qualifiers and the races. It will all be available in English and Spanish, and fans can choose either the primary F1 broadcast team or the SkySports feed.
- Up to four feeds can be chosen for multi-view -- race leaders, driver telemetry data, a tracker of the whole circuit and first-person views from all 22 cars. Apple Vision Pro users can select five feeds.
- The Grand Prix tracks are being rendered in 3D within Apple Maps, providing details for general fan interest and practical attendee tips.
- Apple News will have live video look-ins.
- Apple Music will offer free live audio broadcasts, as well as dedicated playlists including driver-submitted warmup tracks.
“I’ve been very clear from the beginning that, if we’re going to get into sports or anything that we do, we’re trying to be the best at it,” Cue said. “It’s not just viewing the race live. It’s everything that goes around it. When I look at sports, we want to provide -- I’m a huge F1 fan myself -- all of the capabilities and all of the places that Apple has, whether it’s the sports app, whether it’s podcasting, whether it’s music.”
