F1 2026 British Grand Prix: Start time and how to watch for free in the UK

All the information on how to watch the 2026 F1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, including timings and full schedule.

Lewis Larkam

29 Jun 2026

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This is how to watch the Formula 1 2026 British Grand Prix, which takes place from 3-5 July at Silverstone.

We’ve also listed the start times for all of this weekend’s F1 sessions below.

Round nine of the 2026 F1 season heads to the legendary Silverstone Circuit, the home of the British Grand Prix.

Norris won his home F1 race for the first time last year in mixed conditions

George Russell heads into his home race off the back of a morale-boosting first win since the opening round of the campaign last time out at the Austrian Grand Prix.

The important victory saw Russell cut his deficit to Mercedes team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli to 40 points in the drivers’ championship. The 28-year-old from Kings Lynn heads to Silverstone looking for his first victory on home soil.

Lewis Hamilton is the most successful driver at Silverstone, having won the British Grand Prix a record nine times. He will be looking to take his first Silverstone victory - and a 10th overall - as a Ferrari driver, while Lando Norris claimed his first home triumph during his title-winning 2025 season with McLaren.

Haas’ Ollie Bearman and Racing Bulls’ F1 rookie Arvid Lindblad are the other two British drivers on the 2026 grid.

Silverstone hosted F1’s first world championship race in 1950 and has been the permanent home of the British Grand Prix since 1987. The 5.891km, 18-turn track also stages the British round of the MotoGP championship.

It is set to a be a mainly dry and warm weekend at Silverstone, with temperatures set to reach a high of 26 degrees for the race on Sunday.

A record-breaking crowd of 500,000 spectators attended across the four-day weekend at Silverstone last year.

When is the 2026 British Grand Prix?

The British Grand Prix runs from 3-5 July.

For the first time since 2021, Silverstone plays host to a sprint weekend format.

That means there will be just a single hour of practice on Friday, followed by sprint qualifying.

A 17-lap sprint race takes place on Saturday lunchtime, before qualifying is held later in the afternoon.

The main event, the British Grand Prix, will be held on Sunday 5 July.

What are the start times for the 2026 British Grand Prix?

Friday 3 July

12:30-13:30 - British GP Free Practice 1

16:30-17:14 - British GP Sprint Qualifying

Saturday 4 July

12:00-13:00 - British GP Sprint

16:00-17:00 - British GP Qualifying

Sunday 5 July

15:00-17:00 - British Grand Prix

How to watch the 2026 F1 British Grand Prix in the UK?

Channel 4 will be providing live coverage of the 2026 British Grand Prix. It remains the only F1 race shown live on free-to-air television on the network.

Sky Sports are also offering a free way to watch the action, but there is a catch. You can watch all of the on-track action for free on Sky One, providing you have a Sky box.

Free commentary of the race will also be available across BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport website and app.

Crash.net provides live text updates for all F1 track sessions, as well as reports and news. We will be on the ground at Silverstone keeping you up to date with all the action as it happens.