On the first full race weekend of the year, the F1 and IndyCar seasons opened below last year’s highs and NASCAR hit a new low at Las Vegas.
Sunday’s season-opening Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix averaged a 0.7 rating and 1.32 million viewers on ESPN, down 8% in ratings and 3% in viewership from last year (0.75, 1.35M), but still the second-largest audience in the history of the race.
Max Verstappen’s win, which peaked with 1.46 million viewers, delivered the fifth-largest F1 audience ever on cable.
Later in the day, NASCAR Cup Series racing from Las Vegas averaged a 2.2 and 3.99 million — down 18% in ratings and 12% in viewership from last year and the lowest rating and viewership for the race in at least two decades. The race still delivered the largest sports audience of the weekend, narrowly topping a competing Warriors-Lakers NBA game on ABC (3.95M).
As is typical this time of year, NASCAR has been the most-watched sporting event in all three of its race weekends this season.
NASCAR ranked further back in adults 18-49 (fifth) behind three NBA games and the Duke-North Carolina men’s college basketball game. Compared to the F1 race, NASCAR won out in 18-49 (0.62 to 0.48), squeaked by in 18-34 (0.43 to 0.42) and dominated in 25-54 (0.87 to 0.55).
Sandwiched between F1 and NASCAR, IndyCar’s season opener from St. Petersburg averaged a 0.8 and 1.19 million on NBC — down a tick in ratings and 15% in viewership from last year, when the race drew its largest audience in more than a decade (0.9, 1.41M).
The race averaged 1.22 million including additional streaming data not tracked by Nielsen, still down 15% from last year (1.44M) but the third-largest audience for the race since 2016.
In other racing action, the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas drew a 0.7 and 1.13 million on FS1 Saturday — up 7% from last year.
(Nielsen estimates from ShowBuzz Daily 3.7, network PR)
