F1 Practice Today: Chinese Grand Prix 2025 start times, schedule, TV channel and live stream

Formula 1 rolls into Shanghai this weekend for round two of the 2025 season at the Chinese Grand Prix, with practice getting underway today (Friday).

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This weekend marks the first Sprint of the season, meaning F1 fans will get to see two races across the weekend, as they look for clues as to how their favourite teams and drivers are likely to perform throughout the season.

McLaren looked to have the dominant car in Australia in round one, with Lando Norris winning, and both the British star and his team-mate Oscar Piastri over 16 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen before changing conditions and multiple safety cars allowed the Dutchman a late sniff of a victory.

Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari will be hoping for a strong sprint weekend, following a dismal grand prix debut in red for the seven-time champion, where he could only qualify eighth, finishing the race down in 10th in Melbourne.

As teams and drivers adjust to a very different track in Shanghai, here is everything you need to know about the one and only practice session of the Chinese GP weekend.

F1 Practice times - Chinese Grand Prix

The action starts today (Friday) with FP1 at 11:30am local time (CST), before the all-important sprint qualifying gets underway later in the afternoon.

Find the session start times converted to your local time zone below:

Chinese Grand Prix FP1 - Friday, March 21 2025

Local time (CST): 11:30am Friday
United Kingdom (GMT): 3:30am Friday
Central European Time (CET): 4:30am Friday
United States (EST): 11:30pm Thursday
United States (CST): 10:30pm Thursday
United States (PST): 8:30pm Thursday
Australia (AEDT): 2:30pm Friday
Australia (AWST): 11:30am Friday
Australia (ACDT): 2pm Friday
Mexico (CST): 9:30pm Friday
Japan (JST): 12:30pm Friday
South Africa (SAST): 5:30am Friday
Egypt (EET): 5:30am Friday
China (CST): 11:30am Friday
India (IST): 9am Friday
Brazil (BRT): 12:30am Friday
Singapore (SGT): 11:30am Friday
Saudi Arabia (AST): 6:30am Friday
Turkey (EEST): 6:30am Friday

How to watch the Chinese Grand Prix practice live on TV today

Broadcast details vary depending on your location. Check below to see how to tune in for some major countries:

United Kingdom: Sky Sports
United States: ESPN, ESPN Deportes
Italy: Sky Italia
Netherlands: Viaplay, Viaplay Xtra
China: CCTV, Shanghai TV, Guangdong Television Channel, Tencent
Japan: Fuji TV, DAZN
Australia: Fox Sports, Foxtel, Kayo, Network Ten
Spain: DAZN F1
Canada: RDS, RDS 2, TSN, Noovo
Germany: Sky Deutschland
France: Canal+
Belgium: RTBF, Telenet, Play Sports
Mexico: Fox Sports Mexico
Singapore: beIN SPORTS
Hungary: M4 (MTVA Sports Channel)
Brazil: Bandeirantes, Bandsports
Austria: Servus TV, ORF
Middle East & Turkey: beIN SPORTS
Africa: SuperSport
Latin America: ESPN

F1TV Pro also carries coverage of the sport, depending on which territory you are in.

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