Apple and Netflix Wave the Green Flag on a Surprising F1 Partnership

Apple wasted no time in capturing the momentum from its blockbuster opening of F1: The Movie last summer, quickly moving into the fast lane to secure an F1 streaming deal. Since crossing the finish line in October, Apple has been pulling out all the stops to become the place for all things F1 in the US, and it’s just made an unusual alliance to ensure that fans won’t have to leave the Apple ecosystem to enjoy everything the F1 circuit has to offer: the eighth season of Netflix’s Drive to Survive is now streaming on Apple TV.

While Formula 1 owner Liberty Media credited Apple’s hit movie with “attracting younger, female and American audiences to the sport,” it also shared that praise with Netflix, which had helped to drive up interest in Formula 1 racing through its documentary series. As a result, many analysts expected Netflix to be at the table when negotiations for US F1 streaming rights kicked off last summer. However, for whatever reason, the streaming giant declined to throw its hat in the ring, leaving the F1 rights down to two contenders: Apple and ESPN.

Apple ultimately won out by outbidding Disney’s ESPN, which had held the rights since 2018, by almost twice as much, reportedly paying $150 million per year compared to ESPN’s $85 to $90 million. Considering Netflix recently bowed out of the bidding war for Warner Bros., it’s clear the streamer is being somewhat surgical with its spending.

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Strange Bedfellows in the Fast Lane

By contrast, Apple has been working hard to bring live sports to Apple TV for years. It managed to score a small victory with Friday Night Baseball, which it’s managed to hold onto for three more years, but has been repeatedly rebuffed by the NFL. With a 2022 Major League Soccer deal as the only other feather in its cap, it’s not surprising it was so willing to bet heavy on F1 streaming.

That may also explain why Apple has inked a deal with one of its biggest rivals. While Netflix dwarfs Apple TV in size, many have argued that Apple beats it out for quality — a notion that’s backed up by the Oscars, Emmys, and other awards that Apple Originals seem to keep winning. Netflix has also been a long and lone holdout on integrating with Apple’s TV app.

Nevertheless, it seems that Formula 1 has turned the two companies into strange bedfellows. While Apple has yet to make an official announcement, Netflix shared the news on its Tudum blog that Season 8 of Drive to Survive will be available to stream on both Netflix and Apple TV — with a catch.

Although Drive to Survive will continue to be available on Netflix globally, the new season will debut on Apple TV solely in the United States, mirroring Apple’s domestic-only F1 streaming rights and tying into what Netflix is getting out of the deal.

The Grand Prix Trade-Off

While Drive to Survive “takes viewers through the thrills, shake-ups, and triumphs of the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship,” on Apple TV, Netflix will be streaming the 2026 Canadian Grand Prix live to US viewers during the weekend of May 22–24 — a somewhat ironic twist, since Canadian viewers still won’t be able to watch it on either platform. Instead, they’ll have to turn to the traditional F1 TV service or watch it on national sport broadcaster TSN.

There’s no word on whether this is an exclusive deal for season 8 or if Apple and Netflix will continue this arrangement in future years. Apple and F1 have a five-year deal for streaming Formula 1 exclusively in the US, which includes full access to F1 TV Premium at no extra charge, but F1 officials also see this as merely testing the waters right now.

In a recent interview with Racer, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali described Apple as “the protagonist of the growth in the U.S. of the sport,” and while lauding the former ESPN relationship, he added that “the reach that we’re going to have through the streaming platform, through Apple, will be even bigger in the future and it is what we want to test in a market that is more mature [in streaming] than the others.”

Domenicali also believes that Apple will be instrumental in helping connect with a growing younger demographic that’s becoming more interested in Formula 1 thanks to the Brad Pitt film and Netflix documentary. There’s no word on when (or if) Apple and F1 will expand the deal to other countries, but we can certainly hope that if it lands well in the US that F1 will want to see if Apple can make the same magic happen elsewhere