After producing the movie F1, Apple has landed on the podium for the real races of Formula 1.

The tech giant has won U.S. broadcast rights to F1, making the auto racing circuit’s competition exclusive to streaming for the first time. Apple TV will begin showing races in the 2026 season, taking over from current rightsholder ESPN.

Apple bid a reported $140-$150 million annually for the rights, well above the $85 million per year ESPN currently pays for F1. Apple and Disney-owned ESPN were the only two final bidders for the next rights deal, and ESPN reportedly declined to match Apple’s offer. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, other than that the length spans five years, longer than ESPN’s three-year deal.

“[Apple TV subscribers are] going to get everything that Formula 1 has to offer, and it’s going to be amazing, because we’re focused on quality and creating incredible content, and there’s no more incredible content than Formula 1. It’s loved by viewers, it’s growing tremendously, and we’ve made some amazing progress, but we love looking forward,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vp services, in a press conference unveiling the news, adding that while the deal is for five years, he hopes they are in business “forever.” “We are very excited about the plans that we have to elevate this. We’ve got a lot of great ideas that we’re going to work on together, and I think we’re going to make this an amazing, transformative year for Formula 1.”

“This is something that, of course, will represent the big step change in our approach in the media landscape, but we know the competence, we know the quality, we know the power of Apple. And therefore it just it was natural for us to sign this deal together,” added F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali during the press conference. “We know the power that they have, we know the technology they have, we know that they share the same passion for F1, this is not something that is negotiable, it is something that has to be at the base of a partnership and a collaboration that will enable us to get into the minds of the American fans.”

Formula 1 will join Major League Soccer and Major League Baseball in Apple TV’s sports portfolio, which is slimmer than most other streaming competitors.

The deal will see all F1 races stream in the Apple TV app, with select races and all practice rounds streaming for free, even if users don’t subscribe to the service. In addition, F1 TV Premium, the circuit’s own subscription offering, will be included within Apple TV at no extra cost.

Apple has a relationship with Formula 1 via F1: The Movie, which was Apple Original Films’ biggest production to date and stars Brad Pitt as an aging driver recruited to help a struggling team. The film was very much an authorized project, with director Joseph Kosinski and his crew filming at several races and F1’s (and its corporate sponsors’) branding visible throughout the film. F1 has been a box office success, opening to $55.6 million in the United States and $144 million worldwide in its first weekend. It went on to earn more than $600 million globally.

“One of the exciting things as I went to theaters, and we showed this in the U.S., the number of people that raised their hands when we asked them beforehand whether they had seen a Formula 1 race, and many had not,” Cue recalls. “And when we asked them after the movie, are they going to go watch a Formula 1 race? You know, everybody raised their hand.”

ESPN — with a sizable assist from Netflix’s docuseries Formula 1: Drive to Survive — has presided over considerable growth in the American F1 audience since taking over rights in 2018. Through 18 races this season, F1 is averaging about 1.38 million viewers on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, ahead of the previous season-long high of 1.21 million in 2022. All but two of those telecasts improved on their year-ago ratings.

“They were very instrumental for our growth in the U.S.” Domenicali said of ESPN. “So I take the opportunity also to thank ESPN for what they did, and now this is opening a new chapter for us to embrace and to work very close together [with Apple].”

“We’re incredibly proud of what we and Formula 1 accomplished together in the United States and look forward to a strong finish in this final season,” ESPN said in a statement Friday. “We wish F1 well in the future.”

Cue added that Apple intends to use every piece of its portfolio to help grow the sport in the same way:

“We’re going to bring everything that Apple has to offer, from our retail stores to all of our apps, including our sports app, podcasting, Music, obviously, Apple TV, books, Apple News, all of the capabilities,” Cue says. “We have so many touch points that we have with our customers, and we’re going to bring the brunt of that, like we did with the movie.”

Now, the question is whether those viewers will follow F1 to a subscription platform. The Apple deal comes after F1 had been grappling with the delicate balance of growing its fan base in the U.S. with a desire under owner Liberty Media to raise its rights fees.

In a midtown Manhattan hotel conference room, just a few hours before the world premiere of the F1 movie, Domenicali told The Hollywood Reporter that they had more than one bidder at the table.

“The question will be, how are we going to balance the reach versus the monetization,” he said, highlighting the conundrum. Apple does not have the scale and reach of ESPN domestically, but it does have global reach, and plenty of cash. It is not clear whether Apple will try to consolidate lights globally as those come up.

Still, the goal of F1 is to leverage its new deal to grow: “We know that we are very small, if you compare us to the figures that we’re talking about with the NFL, NBA, but as always, you need to start small and get growing,” Domenicali said.

The new F1 deal will coincide with the debut of a new American team, Cadillac F1, which is backed by General Motors. The team is hoping to help build a fan base in the U.S. as they prepare for their debut on the F1 grid next year.

“Cadillac F1 is incredibly excited about today’s announcement,” said Cadillac F1 CEO Dan Towriss. “As we build a truly American team, Apple’s scale, influence, marketing and, most importantly, deep commitment to innovation will bring us to American audiences in exactly the ways we want to reach them.”

Apple TV streams a package of Friday-night MLB games, which are included in the normal subscription price for the service. It also offers MLS Season Pass for an additional fee, allowing viewers to stream every Major League Soccer contest; people without an Apple TV+ subscription can also pay for the latter.

And for Cue, the F1 deal is in many ways a culminating event.

“I’ve been at Apple for over 36 years, and over the course of my career, I’ve had the incredible privilege to be a part of some incredible special moments,” Cue said. “This is one of those, I feel like I’m on the podium, it’s amazing.”