How to watch the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix: start time, live stream and TV schedule (2024)

Following on from a rain-plagued race in Montreal, F1 has made the near-6000km journey to Barcelona for this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix — which marks the beginning of the season’s first triple header.

The F1 calendar’s return to Europe also means perhaps more convenient session times for viewers watching in the UK, with a 3pm start time for Saturday’s qualifying session and a 2pm start time for Sunday’s 66-lap Grand Prix.

Although a thrilling run of recent races has made potential title challengers of Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya could re-establish the pecking order, as its more traditional grand prix layout is set to play into the hands of Red Bull — although a resurgent Mercedes could still pose a threat.

As ever, many questions will still remain unanswered even after three hour-long practice sessions, but every minute of racing action will be covered live across the weekend, with highlights available throughout.

A victory in Montreal means Max Verstappen still holds a commanding lead in the drivers’ standings, but another poor performance from Sergio Perez has loosened Red Bull’s grip on the constructors’ championship. Could a strong showing from Ferrari — who had a weekend to forget in Canada — or the in-form McLaren pairing of Norris and Oscar Piastri pile on the pressure?The Spanish GP is not widely regarded as a typically exciting F1 race, but it could be a key indicator in how the rest of the season will play out.

2024 Spanish Grand Prix live stream and TV schedule

All times in BST

How to watch F1 live stream and TV details for 2024 Spanish Grand Prix

Each minute of every F1 session will be broadcast live in the UK, for paying subscribers only.

Live TV: All on-track sessions will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1 starting with Free Practice 1 starting on Friday at 12.30pm. Subscribers also have access to onboard streams from each of the 20 cars, including radio messages, allowing them to follow a favourite driver on their phone while watching the main feed on TV. The onboard streams are also available on TV, as is a ‘Battle Channel’ offering split-screen coverage of the best fights for position.

Live stream: Sky Sports F1 subscribers in the UK can watch all the running live on the Sky Go app. Now TV subscribers can also see live coverage of every session via Sky Sports F1. It also offers onboard views of each driver through in-app bonus streams for monthly subscribers. These can be viewed concurrently with the main stream on a separate screen.

Live timings are available through the F1 app.

Highlights: Channel 4 will show highlights of the weekend, with coverage shown later on the same day of each event.

Canadian GP circuit and details

Many revisions have been made to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is recent years in an attempt to inject it with some much needed on-track excitement. In 2021, Turns 10 and 11 were remodelled into a long hairpin and in 2023 the tedious final chicane was bypassed and replaced with two high-speed right-hand turns.

The changes did have some positive effect, as the 2023 edition of the Spanish Grand Prix featured 49 overtakes — the fifth-highest tally of any circuit on the calendar. Although prolonged wheel-to-wheel action can be rare — mainly due to the variation in corner layouts and the increased forces exerted through the tyres — there are still plenty of opportunities for drivers to move their way up through the running order.

Making a move into Turn 1 after the DRS-assisted home straight can be treacherous but rewarding as the track snakes violently to the right and then back to the left — often forcing cars to collide. Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton traded pieces of carbon fibre here in 2023 shortly after the start, while Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen narrowly avoided the same fate while duelling for the lead.

The hairpin at Turn 6 can often tempt drivers into diving down the inside of one another — similarly to how Michael Schumacher did on several occassions during his heroic climb through the field from sixth to first in 1996 — while the DRS-assisted run down to Turn 10 can provide similar opportunities.

What’s the weather in Barcelona this weekend?

Racing conditions are forecast to be optimal through the F1 race weekend in Barcelona, with on-track temperatures set to average out at 26°C with no rain expected. But due to the race taking place three weeks later than it had to 2023, the increased temperatures could add another factor to tyre management, according to Pirelli, and put extended stints on the hard tyre — a regularly adopted strategy by many teams and drivers — at a disadvantage.

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2024 Canadian Grand Prix full session times

All times in BST