F1 Today: United States GP Practice start times, TV channel and how to watch for free

United States Grand Prix weekend gets under way in Austin, Texas today (Friday October 23) and we have all the key F1 practice details for you.

Italian prodigy Kimi Antonelli arrives in the Lone Star State knowing that he could be crowned the sport's youngest ever world champion on Sunday, there is much riding on this one.

We get under we with two free practice sessions today (Friday) and another tomorrow (Saturday) before qualifying takes place late on Saturday to set the grid for Sunday's big race at the Circuit Of The Americas (COTA).

We have full details of the practice schedule and how fans can watch the action live on TV - and for free if you are in the US.

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F1 Practice start times - 2026 United States Grand Prix

We get under way at COTA with FP1 starting at 12.30pm local time on Friday (6.30pm UK) with FP2 following at 4pm local time (10pm UK).

Then on Saturday we resume with FP3 again starting the day at 12.30pm local time (6.30pm UK).

FP1 - Friday October 23, 2026

FP2 - Friday October 23, 2026

FP3 - Saturday October 24, 2026

How to watch United States GP practice live on TV today

Sky Sports of course will continue to have live broadcast coverage of practice from COTA throughout Friday and Saturday.

There is great news for US fans, who can catch the action for FREE with new rights holder Apple TV offering a seven-day free trial. To sign up to Apple TV, click here.

Broadcast details, wherever you are in the world, are as follows:

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

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Written by

Graham Shaw - Consultant Editor

Digital sports leader with 30 years of senior level experience running global brands. Built sportinglife.com to be a behemoth in the UK as well as being in charge of the Planet Sport network of sites including planetf1.com, football365.com, teamtalk.com and planetrugby.com. Then grew goal.com to be the world's biggest soccer website in 18 languages and 37 territories. Was GM of Portals for Perform Group (now DAZN) with overall responsibility for sportingnews.com, spox.de and voetbalzone.nl.

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