Formula 1 in 2025: How to watch the Australian Grand Prix on TV and what to know

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Get ready for the Australian Grand Prix with a guide that tells you everything you need to know about how to watch the year’s first Formula 1 race, the schedule, and more:

— In the U.S., ESPN.

— Other countries are listed here.

— Saturday, March 15: Third practice and qualifying.

— Sunday, March 16: The 58-lap Australian Grand Prix.

The 5.2-kilometer (3.2-mile) Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit is laid out around a lake in Melbourne's inner suburbs and uses roads which are open to the public for the remainder of the year. It's a relatively fast track but overtaking is often difficult. This will be the first time since 2019 Australia hosts the season-opening race. The 2020 Australian GP was cancelled two hours before the scheduled season-opening racing weekend because of the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the lowlights of Max Verstappen’s 2024 world championship season was at Melbourne Park, where he went out in the fourth lap of the race with a fiery mechanical failure.

Get caught up:

— Lewis Hamilton ready to race for Ferrari for the first time in F1’s season-opening Australian GP

— Red carpet, fashion and music: F1 launches its 2025 season Hollywood style

— Any hope Red Bull's Christian Horner had of leaving last year's sordid season behind him has been dashed

— Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli says Lewis Hamilton told him to enjoy himself in F1

— Oscar Piastri has signed a “multi-year” contract extension with McLaren

— George Russell says he won’t change approach to Max Verstappen after F1 feud in 2024

— Lando Norris says he’ll drive with ‘elbows out’ to compete with Max Verstappen this F1 season

— Meet Formula 1's biggest rookie class in year

— Lewis Hamilton wants to win another F1 title at 40. It hasn’t been done since the 1960s

5 — Verstappen is targeting a fifth world title in a row. Only three other drivers — including Lewis Hamilton — have won five titles. Of those, only Michael Schumacher won five consecutively.

8 — Hamilton is aiming to win a record-breaking eighth title after joining his new team, Ferrari.

24 - The Australian Grand Prix kicks off a 24-race schedule, matching the record set last year for the longest F1 season.

125,548 — a record Friday crowd at Albert Park for the two F1 practice sessions and other support races.

Ferrari took the contest to long-time rival McLaren in the second practice as Charles Leclerc closed out the session on top, just over one-tenth of a second ahead of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. Leclerc and Norris traded fastest times throughout the late afternoon run. Lewis Hamilton had a much stronger second session for Ferrari, with the seven-time world champion finishing fifth, just over fourth-tenths behind teammate Leclerc.

“I am really enjoying the car. We’re slowly bonding, I think." — Lewis Hamilton shares positive impressions of his Ferrari SF-25.

"It is difficult to tell where everyone’s pace is, so there is still a bit of work to do for us.” — Max Verstappen admits he and Red Bull aren't sure where they stand compared with rival teams.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia waits in his car during the second practice session for the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park, in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Heath McKinley )

McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain steers his car during the second practice session for the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park, in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco steers his car during the second practice session for the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park, in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Scott Barbour)

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain steers his car during the second practice session for the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park, in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands in action during a Formula One pre-season test at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia makes a pit stop during a Formula One pre-season test at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton, of Britain, is seen on a giant screen during a team presentation event, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton, of Britain, smiles during a team presentation event, in Milan, Italy , Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic Party was fracturing Friday as a torrent of frustration and anger was unleashed at Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Chuck Schumer, who faced what they saw as an awful choice: shut the government down or consent to a Republican funding bill that allows President Donald Trump to continue slashing the federal government.

After Schumer announced that he would reluctantly support the bill, he bore the brunt of that anger, including a protest at his office, calls from progressives that he be primaried in 2028 and suggestions that the Democratic Party would soon be looking for new leaders. Nine other members of the Democratic Caucus — a contingent of mostly swing-state and retiring senators — eventually joined Schumer in voting to advance the Republican funding proposal, providing crucial support to bring it to a final vote.

Since their election losses, Democrats have been hunkered against a barrage of Trump's early actions in office, locked out of legislative power and left searching for a plan to regain political momentum. But as Schumer let pass one of the rare moments when the party might regain leverage in Washington, the Democratic Party erupted in a moment of anger that had been building for months.

Many in the party felt the New York Democrat was not showing sufficient fight, arguing that a government shutdown would have forced Trump and Republicans to the negotiating table. Yet for Schumer, who has led Senate Democrats since Trump took office in 2016, the choice ultimately came down to preventing a shutdown that he believed would only hand Trump more power and leave his party with the blame for disruptions to government services.

"A shutdown would allow DOGE to shift into overdrive,” Schumer warned on the Senate floor Friday, referring to the Department of Government Efficiency effort led by Elon Musk. He was also able to secure a Senate vote on a bill that would restore federal funding for Washington, D.C., that had been cut by House Republicans.

Still, as the Senate took the crucial vote on the government funding bill, hardly any Democrats were speaking up in support of Schumer's strategy. It was a remarkable turn for the longtime Democratic leader, leaving him standing practically alone.

Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, his longtime ally and partner in funding fights of the past, said in a statement, “Let’s be clear: neither is a good option for the American people. But this false choice that some are buying instead of fighting is unacceptable.”

Pelosi added that the senators should listen to the women who lead appropriations for Democrats, Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and Sen. Patty Murray of Washington. They had proposed a 30-day stopgap plan instead of the Republican proposal that would provide funding until September. The Republican bill will trim $13 billion in non-defense spending from the levels in the 2024 budget year and increase defense spending by $6 billion.

As House Democrats, who almost all voted against the bill earlier this week, concluded a retreat in northern Virginia Friday, they also called for their Senate colleagues to show more fight. House Democratic leadership rushed back to the Capitol to hold a news conference and urge their Senate colleagues to vote against the bill.

“We do not want to shutdown the government. But we are not afraid of a government funding showdown,” Jeffries said.

He also repeatedly declined to answer questions about whether he had confidence in Schumer.

Other Democrats, such as Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who is seen as a potential presidential candidate in 2028 and also visited the Democratic retreat, called for a broader movement. He mentioned the recent 60th anniversary of peaceful civil rights protests in Selma, Alabama, and argued that Democrats need to find “collective courage.”

“When those individuals marched, there wasn’t one voice," Beshear said. "There was a collective courage of that group that changed the world. That day opened up the eyes of the country to what was really going on.”

Some were ready to start marching.

“We’re ready to get out of this building and head back to the Capitol at any moment and prevent the government from shutting down," said Rep. Greg Casar of Texas, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

“Now is the moment for Democrats to draw a line in the stand and say that we stand very firmly on the side of working class people and against the ultra-rich that are trying to corrupt our government for themselves,” he added.

Meanwhile, some of the nation’s most influential progressive groups warned of serious political consequences for Senate Democrats and predicted a fierce backlash when members of Congress return home next week.

Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible, which has organized hundreds of protests across the nation, said that nearly 8 in 10 of the group’s activists support primary challenges against “Senate Dems who cave on the GOP bill.”

He wrote on social media that the vast majority of those Democratic activists plan to express their anger at town halls or other public events next week. MoveOn, another progressive group that claims nearly 10 million members nationwide, predicted that its activists would also demand answers from Democratic officials in the coming days

“Clearing the way for Donald Trump and Elon Musk to gut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is unacceptable. It’s past time for Democrats to fight and stop acting like it’s business as usual,” said Joel Payne, a spokesperson for MoveOn.

In a social media post, Anne Caprara, the chief of staff for Illinois Gov. JB Prtizker, argued that the party could unify around a fight with Trump.

“The fight going on in the Democratic Party right now is not between hard left, left and moderate. It's between those who want to fight and those who want to cave,” Caprara said, adding, “Misread this at your own peril.”

Even in the Senate, Democrats were mostly unwilling to speak up to defend Schumer's move. Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat, even suggested that the party should be looking for new leaders in the coming years.

“I think come '26, '28, we’ll get some new leadership,” he said. His office later said Warnock was answering the question broadly.

Mostly, though, senators just lamented that they had been jammed by a Republican Party that has found a new sense of unity under Trump. For years, House Republicans have not been able to muster votes for government funding on their own, forcing them into bipartisan negotiations. This time, they passed the bill on party lines and left Washington.

“We’re stuck with two bad choices presented by a unified Republican front," said Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat.

He voted against the bill, yet said of Schumer's decision: “These are tough, tough calls."

Associated Press writer Leah Askarinam in Washington contributed. Peoples reported from New York and Brown reported from Leesburg, Va.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., confers with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., right, as Democrats hold a hearing on Republican threats to Medicaid, at the Capitol, in Washington, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., speaks to reporters after a Senate policy luncheon on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.,, left, and Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., arrive as Senate Democrats gather behind closed doors to mount a last-ditch protest over a Republican-led spending bill that already passed the House, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., arrives as Senate Democrats gather behind closed doors to mount a last-ditch protest over a Republican-led spending bill that already passed the House, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., left, walks with Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., as Senate Democrats gather behind closed doors to mount a last-ditch protest over a Republican-led spending bill that already passed the House, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., listens as President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (Win McNamee/Pool Photo via AP)