Two straight wins in China and Miami, 100 points on the board, a 20-point lead in the championship. Kimi Antonelli has flipped the script at Mercedes, and George Russell is the one chasing him down at the track where the Brit won last year. McLaren is also back in the conversation after Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri locked out second and third in Miami. The Canadian GP is a Sprint weekend, so there’s only one hour of practice on Friday before everything goes live.
Watch the Canadian GP for free
You don’t have to pay for ESPN to watch it. The free live stream is on ServusTV (Austria), RTBF Auvio (Belgium), RTL Zwee (Luxembourg), and SRF zwei (Switzerland). All four channels are 100% free and most don’t require an account.
| Date and time | Sunday, May 24, 4:00 PM ET / 1:00 PM PT / 9:00 PM BST / 10:00 PM CET |
| Free channels | ServusTV (Austria), RTBF Auvio (Belgium), RTL Zwee (Luxembourg), SRF zwei (Switzerland) |
| Stream the race from anywhere with NordVPN |
How to Watch the F1 Canadian GP on Free Channels
ServusTV, RTBF Auvio, RTL Zwee, and SRF zwei are all licensed to broadcast within their respective countries. This means being outside Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, or Switzerland will produce an error message.
Each platform has an IP-detection system that enforces the geo-restriction. If your IP address doesn’t match the right country, the stream is simply unavailable. The goal is to get an IP address from one of these countries, and that’s exactly what a VPN does.
The commentary language varies by channel. ServusTV and SRF broadcast in German, RTBF Auvio in French, RTL Zwee in Luxembourgish. None of them carries English commentary, but the world feed footage and on-screen graphics are identical to what you’d get on Sky or ESPN, and most fans we know mute the commentary anyway during the race.
People online consistently mention NordVPN as their go-to choice for this.
How to Watch the Canadian Grand Prix Online With NordVPN
NordVPN works by replacing your real IP address with one from a country of your choice. Connect to an Austrian server, and ServusTV sees a local visitor. Connect to a Belgian server, and RTBF Auvio opens without issue. Same for Luxembourg and RTL Zwee, or Switzerland and SRF zwei.
NordVPN has servers in all four countries. It also comes with unlimited bandwidth for streaming, fast connection speeds, and apps for all devices: phones, tablets, laptops, and Smart TVs.
Stream every session live with NordVPN
All you have to do is subscribe, launch the app, and pick your country from the server list. Once connected, go to the free channel of your choice and the stream works immediately. We tested it from a U.S. connection on Sunday morning, picking the Belgian server first. RTBF Auvio loaded in under five seconds, no account required, full HD.
NordVPN’s 30-day money-back guarantee makes the whole thing risk-free. When the race is done, contact support and get your money back. Since the channels are free and NordVPN is fully refunded, you end up spending nothing. NordVPN currently runs at 76% off plus three extra months, from $3.09 per month on a two-year plan, but with the refund, the Canadian GP costs you zero.
Should I Just Pay for the Livestream?
Paid platforms also broadcast the Canadian Grand Prix. ESPN holds the U.S. rights, which requires a cable subscription or Fubo / Sling at around $40 per month. F1 TV Premium runs $29.99 per month for the in-house feed. In Canada, the race itself is free on CTV, but only if you’re physically in Canada, since CTV blocks foreign IPs.
The problem is the same as always. Paid platforms are expensive, most don’t offer a meaningful free trial, and they’re region-locked on top of that, which means you’d still need a VPN anyway. If you’re paying for a VPN regardless, it’s far more practical to use it to access a free channel.
With the method above, the stream is free, the VPN is refunded, and you’re not locked into any subscription. The choice should be obvious.
Will Free VPN Services Work?
No. Free VPNs don’t have servers in Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, or Switzerland. Without a local server, there’s no way to get the right IP address and unblock the stream.
They have other downsides too. Free services cap your bandwidth and throttle speeds, neither of which works for a two-hour live race with a Sprint also happening the day before. They also tend to log your data. With NordVPN’s 30-day refund policy available, there’s no point trying free alternatives that won’t get the job done.
Get NordVPN, 76% off + 3 months free
F1 Canadian Grand Prix 2026: Full Sprint Weekend Schedule
Whether you’re watching just the race or the full Sprint weekend, here are all the session times across time zones:
| Event | Date | Local (ET) | PT | BST | CET |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Practice 1 | Friday, May 22 | 12:30 PM | 9:30 AM | 5:30 PM | 6:30 PM |
| Sprint Qualifying | Friday, May 22 | 4:30 PM | 1:30 PM | 9:30 PM | 10:30 PM |
| Sprint Race | Saturday, May 23 | 12:00 PM | 9:00 AM | 5:00 PM | 6:00 PM |
| Qualifying | Saturday, May 23 | 4:00 PM | 1:00 PM | 9:00 PM | 10:00 PM |
| Race | Sunday, May 24 | 4:00 PM | 1:00 PM | 9:00 PM | 10:00 PM |
Antonelli has won the last two rounds in China and Miami, becoming the first driver to crack 100 points this season. Russell, the man who took victory in Australia and stood on the Montreal top step in 2025, is 20 points back and races at one of his happiest hunting grounds. McLaren also brought meaningful upgrades to Miami that finally put Norris and Piastri back on the podium together. Something is going to give. The same VPN trick works for every other race on the calendar, by the way, plus MotoGP and most major sporting events streamed abroad.