How to watch the 2024 F1 Chinese Grand Prix: start time, live stream and TV schedule

F1 returns to China for the first time since 2019 this weekend and brings with it a full reconfigured schedule of sprint race action.

A singular practice session followed by sprint qualifying now takes place on Friday, followed by the sprint race and grand prix qualifying on Saturday — although UK viewers will have to continue setting their alarms for an early rise, as both sprint events begin at 8am and 4am respectively!

All the racing action can be watched or streamed live via subscription, but if you do miss your alarm, Channel 4 will broadcast highlights on free-to-view TV on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The Shanghai International Circuit could be seen as a journey into the unknown for many of the teams, as it is yet to host the current ground effect generation of cars, having been cut from the calendar since 2020 due to Covid restrictions.

Nevertheless, its high number of medium-speed corners and memorable 0.75 mile straight could still be expected to favour Red Bull‘s dominant RB20, while Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes continue to play catch-up in the wake of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. But could limited practice and sprint race uncertainty throw another spanner into the Red Bull works?

With two qualifying sessions and 74 laps of racing action, it’s an F1 race weekend you may not want to miss. Here’s how to watch the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix.

 

Chinese Grand Prix live stream and TV schedule 

All times in BST

	F1 sprint qualifying Friday 19th April	F1 sprint race Saturday 20th April	F1 qualifying  Saturday 20th April	Chinese GP Sunday 21st April
Session start time	8.30am	4am	8am	8am
Live coverage Sky Sports, Sky Go, NowTV	7.30am	3am	7.45am	6.30am
Highlights Channel 4	12.30pm	12.15pm	12.15pm	12.30pm

 

How to watch F1: live stream and TV details for 2024 Chinese 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 the only Free Practice session of the weekend on Friday at 4.30am. 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 action from Friday’s sprint qualifying session, Saturday’s sprint race and grand prix qualifying session as well as Sunday’s 56-lap Grand Prix available to watch later on the respective days of each event.

 

Shanghai circuit and details

The $450m Shanghai International Circuit has been ranked amongst the most challenging venues on the F1 calendar since its debut in 2004. It’s designed to look like the Chinese symbol for ‘shang’ (meaning upwards) and as a result boasts a series of corners which often take both a car and its driver to the limit.

The tightening radius which makes up Turns 1 and 2 makes locking-up scarily simple, and often gives ample opportunities to cars aiming to make leap up the running order. The right-hand hairpin at Turn 6 is another common site for overtaking, but if drivers are unable to get the move done there, they will often have to suffer through the turbulent air of the car ahead all the way the technical Sector 2, before arriving at the high-speed Sector 3, which boasts a 1.2km DRS-assisted main straight.

Having not raced here since 2019 — when Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas took a commanding 1-2 victory over the third-place Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel in F1’s 1000th race — it’s currently unknown how the new generation of ground effect cars will react to the Shanghai circuit. But for that reason alone, China could be seen as the most intriguing race of the 2024 F1 season so far.

2024 Chinese Grand Prix full session times

All times in BST

	Friday 19 April	Saturday 20 April	Sunday 21 April
F1	Free Practice 1 — 3.30am Sprint qualifying — 8.30am	Sprint race — 4am GP Qualifying — 8am	Chinese Grand Prix — 8am