Full grandstands, rising ratings: Formula 1 continues to grow in the 2025 season, but one broadcaster is struggling with declining numbers
Formula 1 spectator numbers are developing positively: by the summer break, the racing series had gained ground in both on-site attendance and TV viewership in German-speaking countries.
At 3.71 million, attendance figures for the 2025 Formula 1 season are only below the previous year’s figure of 3.76 million because the 2025 Monaco Grand Prix did not provide any information on its attendance figures – nor did the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, which has not released figures since 2023.
Monaco has regularly attracted 200,000 spectators in recent years, while Jeddah most recently recorded 150,000 visitors.
Excluding these events, for which no current figures are available, Formula 1 has seen an increase of around 148,000 spectators in the races held so far.
Formula 1 record at Silverstone
The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Imola saw the biggest increase with +42,000 compared to the previous year. The races in Japan were similarly positive, with an increase of 37,000, as were the Grands Prix in China and Great Britain, with 20,000 more spectators each.
Particularly positive: The Grand Prix in Silverstone attracted half a million weekend visitors in 2025. The Australian Grand Prix also grew, with Melbourne also securing a top spot among the most visited race tracks in recent years with 465,000 spectators.
Only two venues recorded a decline in 2025: The Red Bull Ring in Spielberg attracted 2,000 fewer fans than in the previous year. At the Hungaroring near Budapest, the on-site audience was 10,000 smaller this time.
Among TV stations, only RTL did not see an increase
In contrast, the majority of German-language Formula 1 broadcasters are recording rising viewer numbers. In Germany, pay-TV broadcaster Sky saw a slight increase of 7,000 viewers per race. In Austria, the public broadcaster ORF increased its average audience by 18,000 viewers per Grand Prix.
However, ServusTV made the biggest leap: In 2024, an average of 478,000 viewers watched the first part of the season live on the Red Bull channel. In 2025, ServusTV achieved an average of 633,000 viewers per broadcast. This is at least partly due to the fact that the low-rated Australian Grand Prix was shown by ORF this year.
Only RTL has to draw a negative interim conclusion: The German free-TV channel achieved an average of 1.83 million viewers per race for three broadcasts in the first part of the season in 2024. For 2025, this figure stands at 1.55 million after five live races.
What is decisive here is that In 2024, RTL showed the season opener in Bahrain and achieved its best rating of the season with 1.9 million viewers. In 2025, the channel started with the second race of the season in China and only managed 1.1 million viewers.
Unfortunately, no figures from the previous year are available for Swiss television SRF.