In the first 11 races, attendance records were broken at five circuits, TV viewership is up by double digits, and young Kimi Antonelli leads the championship with six wins.
The first half of the 2026 Formula 1 season has brought major changes, new technical regulations, debut teams, and young drivers, and the figures released by Formula 1 show that interest in the sport continues to grow strongly. After 11 thrilling rounds, from the Australian GP in early March to the Hungarian GP in late July, attendance records were broken, viewership is surging in key markets, and Formula 1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali has announced the return of legendary circuits and a stable calendar.
All race weekends in 2026 were sold out. A total of 3.7 million people attended race weekends, six percent more than at the same races in 2025, which saw 3.4 million visitors. Five circuits set new absolute attendance records:
Compared to last year, the Japanese GP saw an 18 percent increase, the British GP rose 13 percent, and the Austrian GP was up seven percent.
The sport's global television reach continued to expand. In Brazil, race weekends attracted audiences up to five times larger than in 2025, and the British GP alone was watched by 18 million viewers on TV Globo and SportTV3-the largest audience for a single race in one market since 2020. Italian TV audiences grew 27 percent through the British GP, and the Japanese GP there had its highest viewership since 2017, while the Belgian GP was the most watched since 2019.
In China, viewership of the home GP more than doubled, while the Monaco GP globally reached nearly 80 million viewers with double-digit growth. At the same time, a new partnership with Apple brought the first simultaneous broadcast with Netflix for the Canadian GP, attracting a younger and more diverse audience.
The growing interest from host cities has brought a series of new and extended contracts: Turkey (Istanbul Park) signed a five-year deal through 2031, Las Vegas a ten-year extension through 2037, and Barcelona and Spa-Francorchamps have multi-year alternating renewals. Portuguese Portimão returns to the calendar in 2027 and 2028. A particular surprise is Sepang in Malaysia, which will host the Bahrain GP from 2 to 4 October 2026-the country's first return to F1 after several years.
Domenicali highlighted this as "a sign of cooperation" and thanked the Kingdom of Bahrain and Malaysia for enabling the return of a circuit that was part of the championship in the past. He also confirmed that the races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi at the end of the season are safe for now, but the final decision on possibly moving the finale to Europe will be made no later than mid-September.
Formula 1's social media followers have surpassed 125 million, a 19 percent increase compared to 2025. Annual impressions rose 12 percent, while video views jumped 54 percent, largely thanks to TikTok. The LEGO driver parade activation at Silverstone recorded 70 million views, and F1.com and F1 App users consumed seven million hours of extended video content. The total global fan base now stands at 830 million people, a 64 percent increase from the first full year after Liberty Media's acquisition in 2018. Women make up 42 percent of the audience, and as many as three-quarters of new fans are women; at the same time, 43 percent of the total base are under 35.
Speaking to the media after the Hungarian GP, Domenicali stressed that the evolution from the first race has been "phenomenal" and that F1 is showing its ability to respond to technical challenges. "The championship is becoming very, very fascinating. There is a lot of action on track. People love it," he said. He also addressed early-year criticism that Mercedes would dominate: "I remember how some people said, 'The championship is already over, the game is done.' Actually, that's not true, there is still plenty to happen until the end."
Leading the standings is Kimi Antonelli, the young Mercedes driver, who has scored six wins in the first half of the season. Domenicali describes him as fresh, open, and extremely strong: "He has brought in many new fans, and from a sporting perspective, he has proven very solid. Without two retirements due to car issues, the gap in the championship would be even larger." The Italian F1 boss promises a spectacular home celebration at Monza, where Antonelli will race for the first time as a race winner, and just a week later Madrid will host its inaugural GP.
On Max Verstappen, Domenicali said: "Max is an incredible driver. He loves Formula 1. I have an amazing relationship with him. My opinion is that Max will stay with us, and I really hope so." Additionally, responding to drivers' criticisms of the new regulations, he told F1 World Magazine: "We don't want to put tape on anyone's mouth."
The 2026 F1 Sim Racing World Championship brought together nine teams across 12 rounds, with the opening at DreamHack Birmingham watched by 50,000 fans. Broadcasts on YouTube, Twitch and Facebook reached 13 million live viewers, 72 percent more than last year, along with 269 million social media content views. In sustainability, F1 is on track toward its Net Zero target by 2030: carbon footprint is down 35 percent compared to 2018, factory emissions have fallen by 37,000 tCO2e (64 percent less than 2018), logistics reduced by nearly 20,000 tCO2e, and event operations by more than 1,000 tCO2e-all despite the calendar growing from 21 races in 2018 to 24 races in 2025.
