Apple senior vice president of services Eddy Cue believes Formula 1 has a major long-term opportunity to grow in the United States, following an early rise in viewership after Apple took over the championship’s US broadcasting rights from 2026.
Speaking at the Autosport Business Exchange Miami, Cue said Formula 1 ratings were significantly higher than the previous year’s linear television figures for the first three races of the season.
According to Cue, Apple has not only seen more people watching F1, but also stronger engagement across the full race weekend. He pointed out that Friday, Saturday and Sunday all now carry major value for viewers, rather than the focus being limited to the grand prix itself.
Cue described Formula 1’s potential in America as a “huge opportunity,” arguing that the sport still has significant space to expand over the coming years.
He made it clear that Apple is not trying to compare F1 directly with the NFL, NHL or Major League Baseball. Instead, his view is that Formula 1 is still in a different growth phase in the United States, with a younger audience and rising interest among female viewers.
Cue said Apple is seeing strong growth among both young and female audiences, suggesting that the championship’s US fanbase could expand by multiples rather than by a small percentage.
Cue also linked Formula 1’s growth potential to the impact of Apple’s F1 movie project. He recalled asking audiences before the film whether they had ever watched a race, with very few people responding positively.
After seeing the movie, however, Cue said those same audiences showed much greater interest in watching a real Formula 1 race. For him, that reaction showed how powerful the sport can be once new viewers are exposed to it properly.
Rather than framing F1’s US growth as a 10% or 20% increase, Cue suggested the real question is how many times larger the sport can become in America over the years.
His comments underline Apple’s belief that Formula 1 remains far from reaching its ceiling in the US market. With Apple now controlling the American broadcast package, the company appears focused on turning early viewership gains into long-term audience expansion.
