F1 2018 live stream: Australian Grand Prix time, TV schedule, and how to watch online

The 2018 Formula One season is here and, once again, Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes has pole position. It was a close session all around, until the final lap of Hamlton’s, where he suddenly found an extra six-tenths of a second to take the top spot for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix.

Sunday’s race will be one of those that are difficult to watch in the United States from a timing perspective. While it will be at a reasonable hour in Australia, the broadcast in the U.S. begins at 1 a.m. ET on Sunday morning.

Coverage will be on ESPN2, shifting from NBC over to the ESPN family of networks for the 2018 season. Live streaming can be had via WatchESPN, the ESPN App, F1 TV (where available, as worldwide launch has been postponed) and other subscription services that carry ESPN’s networks, including fuboTV.

While Hamilton’s sudden burst of speed in the final qualifying session will be deflating to fans of Ferrari and Red Bull, the top two teams competing with Mercedes, it’s worth noting that both of those teams are expected to be more competitive on race day. Mercedes can’t run that high-powered engine mode for very long during an actual race, and other teams should be able to cut into that advantage.

Valtteri Bottas, also of Mercedes, was hoping to get pole himself, but had a major crash in the third qualifying session. Bottas will start 15th on the grid after the crash and ensuing gearbox penalty.

Next to Hamilton on the front row is Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari, with Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari behind him. Then it’s Max Verstappen of Red Bull in fourth. Daniel Ricciardo, also of Red Bull, would be fifth, but he had a three-place grid penalty for failing to slow sufficiently for red flags.

You can see the viewing information and full starting grid for Sunday’s race below.

Date: Sunday, March 25
Location: Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne
Time: 1 a.m. ET
TV: ESPN2
Online Streaming: WatchESPN, ESPN App, fuboTV