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So Mercedes is looking like the team to beat at the Chinese Grand Prix, with Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton on the front row of the grid at the Shanghai International Circuit. You can watch the crazy cornering, exciting straights and nail-biting near misses from anywhere in the world, using this guide to getting an F1 live stream.
Chinese Grand Prix 2019 – where and when
The Shanghai International Circuit is the venue for the third Grand Prix of the season, with a track 3.4 miles/5.4km long.
The times you need to know for the Grand Prix weekend are as follows, with local times listed first:
The Chinese Grand Prix – Sunday, April 14 at 2.10pm (7.10am BST, 2.10am ET or 11.10pm PT)
The Shanghai Formula 1 track is relatively youthful with a 2003 birth following a whooping $450 million investment and 18 months of building. The track itself is designed to look like the Chinese symbol “shang” meaning “upwards”. The result is some super fast straights and very high g-force corners. So who can we expect to master this track?
So far we’ve only had a glimpse at what the season may hold with a Bottas, Hamilton, Verstappen finish at the Australian race and a Bahrain podium of Hamilton, Bottas and Leclerc.
So who will take the points this time with Mercedes and Ferrari going head-to-head? The conditions in Shanghai are cool and the roughness of the asphalt is quite low. This is better for cars that focus on the front tyres working best. Evidence suggests Mercedes are looking after their rears, which creates an understeer balance meaning the advantage could sit with Ferrari in Shanghai.
You can catch all the racing action live from anywhere you happen to be using this guide. Read on to find out how to live stream F1 action.
How to watch the Chinese Grand Prix from outside your country
To see how you can live stream the Chinese Grand Prix action in the UK, Australia, the US, Canada and New Zealand, then scroll a little further down this page to see the broadcast options. But if you try and tune in to your native stream from outside your country, you’ll quickly discover that it’s geo-blocked.
That’s where a VPN can come in really handy. It’s a piece of software readily available to download and install that allows you to simulate the IP address on your laptop (or mobile phone, tablet, streaming device, console, etc) so that it appears to be in a completely different country. Ideal, assuming that it doesn’t breach any Ts&Cs from the broadcaster you’re trying to tune in to.
That might sound complicated, by VPNs – or Virtual Private Networks – are actually surprisingly easy to operate. Simply select one of our top three best VPN picks below (or opt straight for our number one favorite ExpressVPN), open it up and pick out your country of choice from the ‘choose location’ menu, and then start watching as if you were sat back at home. Easy!
The best 3 VPNs for streaming F1 online
1. ExpressVPN: the best all-round VPN for streaming, comes with 30-day money back guarantee and 3 months FREE when you sign up for an annual plan
2. IPVanish: super secure and able to work on a whopping 10 devices, at the same time
3. NordVPN: one of the most affordable choices for streaming and really effective, too
How to stream F1 live from China in the UK:
Sky Sports F1 has all the coverage exclusively this year (except the British Grand Prix), so ideal if you’re already subscribed to Sky Sports. Using the Sky Go app will let you watch on various other devices, too, including laptops, Apple and Android mobile devices and via your PlayStation or Xbox.
If you don’t want to subscribe to Sky just to watch this Grand Prix, then you can grab a Now TV Sports Pass instead. It costs £8.99 per day or £14.99 for a whole week that will let you catch all the practices, qualifying and the race itself. And if you want to stream all the F1 races live this season, then the promotional Season Pass costs £195 for nine months of Sky Sports.
Not in the UK this weekend? Fear not, check out our advice on using a VPN above, and it will let you watch the UK coverage from wherever on Earth you are.
How live stream the Chinese Grand Prix in Australia
The action will be shown on the paid-for services that will be showing the rest of the Formula 1 races this year – Fox Sports and Kayo Sports. The Kayo Sports Basic Package costs $25 per month and allows users to stream across two devices simultaneously. Alternatively, the service also offers a Kayo Sports Premium Package, which provides three concurrent streams for $35 per month.
Their apps mean you can access this from your chosen device wherever you are (although you’ll need a VPN if you’re taking that abroad).
How to watch the Chinese Grand Prix in the US:
In the US, ESPN has the rights to show the F1 live (using Sky’s UK coverage). That’s great news if you have cable, but if you’re a cord-cutter you could try a free trial to another streaming service like Sling and Fubo and watch on there.
Out of the US and want to watch the coverage? No worries – just use a VPN and register to a location showing the race.
How to watch a Chinese F1 live stream in the Canada:
RDS and TSN have the rights to show the Formula 1 north of the border in 2019. Alternatively, you could try services like Sling or Fubo which have free trials and don’t require cable.
For those travelling, you can use a VPN to change your virtual location and still enjoy the race as if you were back in Canada.
How to get an F1 live stream in New Zealand
Just like in the UK, Sky Sports has bagged exclusivity to show all 2019 F1 live streaming. As you’ll no doubt be aware, it doesn’t come cheap. But there are ways of getting some cheap access.
You should be able to get a Fox Sports package via a great offer if you want to enjoy it for less. The Foxtel Now app works with this, so you can live stream to your preferred device – anywhere using a VPN.
