Records, growth and unforgettable moments – the 2025 Formula 1 season so far

The first half of the 2025 Formula 1 season has delivered drama, innovation and record-breaking achievements, both on and off the track.

From thrilling wheel-to-wheel racing and sold-out Grands Prix to the global success of F1 The Movie and ground-breaking activations, the sport continues to accelerate into an exciting new era.

As the sport returns from the summer break, refreshed and raring to go racing once again, let’s look at some of the highlights from the season so far.

A historic start — F1 75 Live at The O2

The 2025 season began with a spectacular celebration of Formula 1’s 75th anniversary at London’s O2 Arena – F1 75 Live.

Tickets sold out in just 20 minutes, as the event brought together all 10 F1 teams – for the first time ever – to unveil their liveries ahead of the new campaign. 16,000 fans enjoyed an incredible evening that combined the glamour of Formula 1 with world-class entertainment, featuring performances from global music stars such as mgk, Take That, Tems, Kane Brown and Brian Tyler’s Are We Dreaming.

The response to the event was phenomenal and helped the sport reach new audiences. Live broadcast coverage from 42 broadcast partners spanned 37 territories across the world, while 7.5 million viewers tuned in across Formula 1’s social channels.

The F1 YouTube livestream alone, watched in 211 territories, was the most successful in the channel’s history – setting a new record with over twice as many views as the previous best performing stream.

Box office success — F1 The Movie

June saw the global release of F1 The Movie, which has become the largest-grossing sports film of all time and the highest-grossing Apple film to date, surpassing $600 million at the box office.

Directed by Joe Kosinski and starring Brad Pitt, the movie – Pitt’s highest grossing film – has been praised for its authenticity, earning a 97% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and an ‘A’ CinemaScore rating.

The production captured over 185 hours of footage at iconic circuits during actual Grand Prix weekends and was supported by more than 1,900 crew members – with roughly 400 members of the crew at each event.

More than 2,000 hours of F1 broadcast footage was recorded for the movie, which saw New York’s Times Square transformed into a Formula 1 showcase for its world premiere in front of huge crowds. The European premiere in London’s Leicester Square followed a week later, with both events attracting Hollywood icons, A-list celebrities, award-winning global music stars and, of course, F1 superstars.

Record-breaking race attendance

Fan enthusiasm to attend a Grand Prix has reached unprecedented levels, with 3.9 million fans attending the first 14 races of 2025 – the highest mid-season total in Formula 1 history.

Eleven events sold out completely, with six setting new attendance records. Silverstone and Albert Park drew crowds of 500,000 and 465,000 people respectively, while Belgium, Canada, Spain and Austria also recorded attendances exceeding 300,000.

Digital and social media growth

Formula 1’s digital footprint has continued to expand, particularly among younger audiences, with the sport’s social media following growing to 107.6 million — a 21% increase year-on-year, and up from 18.7 million in 2018.

Fans continue to watch race weekend action after events, with YouTube views for highlights climbing by 30%. The Australian Grand Prix highlights alone attracted 13 million views within the first week, making it the second largest audience on the channel after the Abu Dhabi 2021 season finale.

More time is also being spent on F1.com and the official Formula 1 app, with total content views up 17% compared to last year.

TV viewership on the rise

Television audiences have remained strong across key markets, with 13 of the 14 races recording year-on-year growth in live viewership.

The season-opening Australian Grand Prix weekend had over 60 million cumulative linear TV viewers worldwide, while in the United States, live race viewership is up 23% vs. the 2024 season average – the Miami Sprint also setting a new viewership record since the format was introduced in 2021.

Twelve of the 14 races this season have seen year-over-year viewership growth on ESPN in the US, with seven of them setting event viewership records. The broadcaster has also seen a 14% increase in its younger demographic (between 18-49) in comparison to 2024.

Media rights extensions

The growing global appeal of F1 has resulted in several extensions and agreements with broadcast partners around the world.

Tencent were renewed as the broadcaster for Formula 1 in mainland China, while there was a long-term extension agreed with Bell Media in Canada and Globo was confirmed as the Brazilian broadcaster from 2026.

A growing global fanbase

Formula 1 now boasts a global fanbase of 827 million, cementing its position as the world’s most popular annual sporting series with a year-on-year increase of 12% – and a 63% increase compared to 2018.

The fanbase is becoming younger and more diverse too, with 43% of fans now under the age of 35 – a growth of 51 million year-on-year – and female representation rising to 42%, up from 37% in 2018.

Interest in F1 continues to grow in heritage markets such as the UK (+24%), Italy (12%) and Brazil (+9%), and in growth markets including the US and China where interest has surged by 11% and 39% respectively.

The United States fanbase, supported by three unique races, has reached 52 million and is the largest F1 market for YouTube viewership (135 million) and social media followers (5.8 million), with social followers up 26% year-on-year.

Meanwhile, a sold-out Chinese Grand Prix weekend saw 220,000 fans attend earlier this year — up 9% vs. 2024 — as China reached over 221 million claimed F1 fans, up +39% year-on-year. Over half have started following the sport in the last five years, while 46% are female and 40% are aged between 16-34.

New partnerships and activations

F1 holds an increasing number of prestigious partnerships, specialising in a wide variety of sectors and appealing to markets across the world, that has more than doubled since 2020 – going from 12 to 27 partners in just five years.

The first half of 2025 saw Formula 1 strengthen its commercial portfolio with major global brands. A 10-year deal began with luxury group LVMH, bringing Louis Vuitton, TAG Heuer and Moët Hennessy – and a range of their brands including, Moët & Chandon, Belvedere, Whispering Angel and Glenmorangie – into the sport.

In May, PepsiCo joined as an Official Partner until 2030 with brands including Doritos and Sting Energy, plus Gatorade became the Official Partner of F1 Sprint. Disney’s Mickey & Friends also announced a partnership set to begin in 2026.

At the start of the year, Michelin-starred chef Gordon Ramsay became a partner of the sport, delivering a world-class culinary experience in F1 Garage across 10 Grands Prix this year. Barilla, the world’s biggest pasta producer, also became the Official Pasta Partner at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Elsewhere, multi-national lottery-led entertainment company Allwyn became an Official Partner in a multi-year deal, PwC signed up as the sport’s Official Consulting Partner and ALT Sports Data became the Official Betting Data Supplier, while MSC Cruises agreed a partnership extension until 2030.

There was a host of innovative partner activations that captured global attention too. At the Miami Grand Prix, for example, the Drivers’ Parade featured 10 life-sized LEGO F1 cars, each built from nearly 400,000 bricks and capable of reaching 20 kph, driven – or, more accurately, raced – by the F1 drivers.

The activation received an incredible reception from media, fans, and the drivers themselves, becoming the most viewed partner content on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook ever.

The British Grand Prix also saw LEGO-designed trophies presented on the podium, celebrating the sport’s 75th anniversary, while other highlights included Barilla’s culinary showcase with Massimo Bottura – holder of three Michelin stars and a green Michelin star – in Bahrain, and Qatar Airways’ pop-up barbershop with celebrity hair stylist Sheldon Edwards (HD Cutz) at Silverstone.

F1 ACADEMY announced multiple new partnerships too, as it continues to grow. TAG Heuer became the series’ first ever Official Timekeeper, while TeamViewer, More than Equal, Wella Company and PepsiCo’s Gatorade also partnered with the all-female series.

Race renewals

2025 has seen several Formula 1 events get long-term extensions, with the majority of the F1 calendar now contracted into the 2030s and Miami and Austria contracted until 2041.

An extension through 2028 was agreed with the Mexico City Grand Prix, while the Canadian Grand Prix was extended through 2035 and the Belgian Grand Prix was renewed on a multi-year extension.

The calendar for the 2026 season has also been announced, including further improvements to the geographical flow of races and a new circuit in Madrid – adding to the excitement of next year’s new era of regulations.