It’s now official! RTL will broadcast these races on free-to-air TV in 2026

What was first hinted at with the broadcast of the Monaco Grand Prix at the start of the month has now been confirmed: RTL Deutschland has officially announced which races from the current 2026 season will still be shown on free-to-air television.

Five Sundays, ten Saturdays

The Cologne-based broadcaster will broadcast a total of five races – meaning four more after Monaco – whilst the Grands Prix will also be shown on Sky as usual. In addition to the five full race weekends, RTL will also broadcast qualifying or the sprint on five further Saturdays. As previously announced, the next Grand Prix on RTL will be Spa in mid-July, whilst the next event is the qualifying session at Silverstone on 4 July (see list below). Zandvoort, the debut race in Madrid and Las Vegas will all be shown in full on RTL.

For fans, the deal between Sky and RTL – which are now part of the same group – is, on the one hand, cause for celebration, as the races will be free-to-air and can therefore be watched without a pay-TV subscription – although there are two fewer Grands Prix than in previous years, when the broadcasters were already working together.

Familiar teams will be appearing together

As was the case during the trial run in Monaco, the on-air teams from both broadcasters will once again appear side by side. For RTL, this includes presenter Florian König, commentator Heiko Wasser, experts Günther Steiner and Christian Danner, and track reporters Kai Ebel and Alessa-Luisa Naujoks. For Sky, the team consists of presenter Peter Hardenacke, commentator Sascha Roos, experts Ralf Schumacher and Timo Glock, and track reporter Sandra Baumgartner.

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