The Best Way To Watch Formula 1 On Apple TV (Or A TV With AirPlay) In 2022
TL;DR: There’s an Apple TV app now. Just download it from the App Store on your Apple TV!
Update for 2023 season:
All seems well carrying over this season from last season. Enjoy the races!
And hey, if you’re into startups and/or tech and you wanna follow along my latest startup journey, check out https://angus.plus/
Update for 2022 season:
If you bought an annual pass mid-way through last season through the App Store, you may have issues with the F1TV app on certain devices. My Apple TV app works no problem, but the iPad app kept telling me I didn’t have a valid subscription. If anyone’s had the same problem and found a fix, leave a comment!
Update for Oct 2021:
Hey, there’s an Apple TV app now!
Good news, everyone. There’s an official Formula 1 TV app for Apple TV now. Just search for it in the App Store on your Apple TV and log in. That’s it.
If for some reason the TV app is not available for you, or if you don’t want to use it for whatever reason, I’ve left the rest of this article intact in case it’s helpful.
Happy racing!
The Apple TV doesn’t (edit: didn’t) have a dedicated F1 app, unfortunately. But as of April 2021, you can do direct AirPlay from the app on an iPhone or iPad. This is the best option I’ve found if you have an Apple device. Otherwise, you can AirPlay or wire-in a laptop.
This assumes you have a Formula 1 TV subscription, either for live access or replays. If you already pay for a cable subscription that includes a channel that carries F1, this guide doesn’t really apply.
Option 1: AirPlay from an iPad/iPhone
This is the best option I’ve found. Really glad they added this. It was added in April 2021, so make sure you have a version of the app that’s newer than that.
- Open the F1 TV app on your device.
- Play the race session you want.
- Find the AirPlay button, and select your TV.
Super easy and you should get a nice, smooth picture.
With the video playing, you can now swipe to a different app on your device and open a telemetry feed in a web browser, or text a dirty pic to someone or whatever.
Option 2: Connect your Mac to your TV with AirPlay
The idea here is to use your TV as a second monitor.
You can use a Mac laptop or a desktop, either will work. Obviously a laptop might be a bit easier if your desktop is in a different room!
- Open System Preferences > Display
- In the dropdown at the bottom, select your Apple TV as the Airplay Display
3. In the Arrangement tab, de-select Mirror Displays if it’s selected
4. Open the F1TV website in your browser
5. Get the video playing, and ‘drag’ the window to your TV display
6. Click the full-screen button
Now you should have full-screen F1 video on your TV and a normal computer desktop on your laptop.
NOTES
If you don’t want a second screen, you can dim your display all the way down.
If your laptop screen is now blank and you want to use it, you may need to enable Displays Have Different Spaces under System Preferences > Mission Control
If you want a second screen for telemetry, you can open F1TV in a second browser and set it to full screen on your laptop display.
These video feeds will chew your batteries so you’ll want to plug in. (Using Safari will use less battery than Chrome.)
That’s it!
This also works for TVs with AirPlay built-in, so you don’t need an Apple TV.
Option 3: Connect your laptop to your TV with a cable
This solution works with any TV and laptop, pretty much, if you don’t mind some wires. And really doesn’t have anything to do with Apple TV.
- Connect your computer to your TV using an HDMI to HDMI or USB-C to HDMI cable / hub, depending on your laptop’s ports.
- Open the Formula 1 TV website in a browser and switch your chosen video feed to full screen using the full-screen button as shown in the screenshot of Option 1.
- That’s it, really.
You might need to mess with your computer’s display settings to get it to look correctly and not have black bars. I like to use extended desktop mode, not mirroring mode, so I have to drag my browser over to the TV before pressing the full screen button.
Then it’s easy to open the F1 data screen or race map on the laptop screen. (If using macOS, getting two full-screen apps going is a thing, so you might need to look up a tutorial on that.)
You might also need to switch your audio device to the TV instead of your laptop speakers. Or run a separate audio cable to your A/V receiver if that’s how you have it wired up. Or plug the HDMI cable into your receiver. My receiver is from the time before HDMI so it’s connected to the TV audio out, which means I just plug the laptop into the TV and it all works.
Is your video stuttering?
I had some issues with a less-than-smooth video, so there are few things to check:
- If you’re plugged in, and have a 4k TV, make sure your cable / adapter supports 4k @ 60Hz. Even if you downscale the resolution to 1080p, macOS may keep your video at 30Hz. In my case, it was a USB-C hub that could only do 4k @ 30Hz.
- If you’re AirPlay’ing, click on Scaled in the display settings for the TV, and select the standard 1920x1080 (not the HiDPI one as was selected for me by default). You may need to deselect and option+click on Scaled if you don’t see that option. This resulted in a much smoother image for me and the video streamed isn’t any better than 1080 anyway.
What About 4K?
As of right now I don’t think there’s any way to stream it in 4K through the official app. If / when F1TV offers 4K streams, I’ll update this guide with the best way to get a 4k stream going.
If you know of a (legal) way to get 4K, or there’s a TV provider with a streaming app with 4K coverage in your region, then leave a comment.
Enjoy the races!
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I’ll keep this post updated if/when I discover better options. And if you have a better setup, do leave a comment about what you do differently!
Last updated Apr 8, 2022.
