Formula 1: How to watch the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on TV and what to know

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Here's a guide that tells you what you need to know about Sunday's Saudi Arabian F1 Grand Prix. It's the fifth round of the 2025 Formula 1 season.

— In the U.S., ESPN.

— Other countries are listed here.

– Sunday: Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, 50 laps of the 6.2-kilometer (3.8-mile) Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Starts at 1900 GMT (1 p.m. ET)

The Jeddah Corniche Circuit is one of the newest venues on the F1 calendar after making its debut in 2021. Hosting F1 is part of Saudi Arabia's push to become a major player in global sports. Jeddah is fast for a street circuit and walls close to the track mean the slightest error brings heavy punishment. It's the second night race in a row after last week's Bahrain Grand Prix. Max Verstappen is the only driver to win in Jeddah twice. Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez have one win each.

Oscar Piastri became the first driver to win two races this season with a dominant drive from pole position to victory in Bahrain. It was a dramatic race behind him as George Russell contended with electrical problems and held off Piastri's McLaren teammate Lando Norris to take second. Verstappen had problems with his Red Bull and placed sixth. Norris leads the 2025 driver standings by three points from Piastri.

Formula 1 champion Verstappen took pole position in qualifying after standings leader Lando Norris crashed. Red Bull’s Verstappen beat Piastri’s time by .01 of a second on his final run to take pole. Russell was third fastest for Mercedes. Norris had not set a time in the third part of qualifying when he lost control over a curb and ran wide into the wall.

Get caught up:

— Max Verstappen takes pole position for the Saudi Grand Prix.

— The F1 title fight is increasingly focused on McLaren's drivers but Max Verstappen is still hopeful

— Oscar Piastri cruises to win at Bahrain Grand Prix, with Lando Norris third

— Max Verstappen says he’s ‘relaxed’ despite speculation about his Formula 1 future

— Lando Norris feels ‘nowhere near’ his best as Formula 1 title contest heats up inside McLaren

— Concerns mount at Red Bull after Max Verstappen’s ‘catastrophe’ as F1 heads to Saudi Arabia

58 — McLaren's gap over its nearest challenger Mercedes in the constructors' standings shows how it's the only team to be consistently fast at all tracks so far.

69 — Verstappen has scored all but two of Red Bull's 71 points this season. Tsunoda's ninth place in Bahrain was the first time any of his teammates finished in the top 10 since November.

7 — Rookie Oliver Bearman made a splash on debut in Saudi Arabia last year with seventh place as an emergency stand-in for Ferrari. Now at Haas, that's still Bearman's best finish in F1.

“The car came alive in the night. We made some final changes and it was a lot more enjoyable to drive, the grip was coming to me." — Verstappen.

“I was pretty happy with it. There wasn’t too much more left in that lap.” — Piastri.

"We’re disappointed to have such a big setback but I’ve got to take it on the chin. I apologized to the team, to my mechanics and the engineers.” Norris.

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McLaren driver Lando Norris' car is carried out of the track after crashing during the qualifying session ahead of the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands, center, pole position, is flanked by McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia, left, second fastest time and Mercedes driver George Russell of Britain, third fastest time after the qualifying session ahead of the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands, pole position, left, cheers with McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia, second fastest time, after the qualifying session ahead of the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands thumbs up after setting the pole position in the qualifying session ahead of the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain makes a pit stop during the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix at Sakhir circuit, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (Andrej Isakovic Pool via AP)

Mechanics push Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands on the starting grid before the the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix, in Sakhir, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Mercedes driver George Russell of Britain celebrates second place at the the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix, in Sakhir, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia holds trophy after winning the the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix, in Sakhir, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia celebrates after winning the the Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix, in Sakhir, Sunday, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass. (AP) — Lewis Pugh has followed an unspoken rule during his career as one of the world’s most daring endurance swimmers: Don’t talk about sharks. But he plans to break that this week on a swim around Martha’s Vineyard, where “ Jaws” was filmed 50 years ago.

The British-South African was the first person to complete a long-distance swim in every ocean of the world — and has taken on extreme conditions everywhere from Mount Everest to the Arctic.

“On this swim, it’s very different: We’re just talking about sharks all the time,” joked Pugh, who will, as usual, wear no wetsuit for the 62-mile (100-kilometer) swim.

For his swim around Martha’s Vineyard in 47-degree (8-degree Celsius) water he will wear just trunks, a cap and goggles.

Pugh, 55, is undertaking the challenge because he wants to change public perception around the now at-risk animals — which he said were maligned by the blockbuster film as “villains, as cold-blooded killers.” He will urge for more protection for sharks.

“We need to protect life in our oceans — all our futures rely on it,” he said on Thursday before starting out from a beach in front of the Edgartown Harbor Lighthouse and swimming an initial 3.9 miles (6.2 kilometers) for nearly three hours. On Friday, he'll get in the water and swim again — and again, for an estimated 12 days, or however long it takes him to complete the swim. He'll spend the rest of his time on the Vineyard educating the public about sharks.

Later Thursday, he crawled out of the water, where curious seals bobbed in the waves, and onto a boat to warm up and refuel.

He began his endeavor just after the New England Aquarium confirmed the first white shark sighting of the season, earlier this week off the coast of Nantucket.

“It’s going to test me not only physically, but also mentally,” he said, while scoping out wind conditions by the starting line earlier this week. “I mean every single day I’m going to be speaking about sharks, sharks, sharks, sharks. Then, ultimately, I’ve got to get in the water afterwards and do the swim. I suppose you can imagine what I’ll be thinking about.”

Pugh said the swim will be among the most difficult he’s undertaken, which says a lot for someone who has swum near glaciers and volcanoes, and among hippos, crocodiles and polar bears. No one has ever swum around the island of Martha's Vineyard before.

But Pugh, who often swims to raise awareness for environmental causes — and has been named the United Nations Patron of the Oceans for several years — said no swim is without risk and that drastic measures are needed to get his message across: Around 274,000 sharks are killed globally each day — a rate of 100 million every year, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

“It was a film about sharks attacking humans and for 50 years, we have been attacking sharks,” he said of “Jaws.” “It’s completely unsustainable. It’s madness. We need to respect them.”

He emphasizes that the swim is not something nonprofessionals should attempt. He’s accompanied by safety personnel in a boat and kayak and uses a “Shark Shield” device that deters sharks using an electric field without harming them.

Pugh remembers feeling fear as a 16-year-old watching “Jaws” for the first time. Over decades of study and research, awe and respect have replaced his fear, as he realized the role they play in maintaining Earth’s increasingly fragile ecosystems.

“I’m more terrified of a world without sharks, or without predators,” he said.

“Jaws” is credited for creating Hollywood’s blockbuster culture when it was released in summer 1975, becoming the highest grossing film up until that time and earning three Academy Awards. It would impact how many viewed the ocean for decades to come.

Both director Steven Spielberg and author Peter Benchley have expressed regret over the impact of the film on viewers’ perception of sharks. Both have since contributed to conservation efforts for animals, which have seen populations depleted due to factors like overfishing and climate change.

Discovery Channel and the National Geographic Channel each year release programming about sharks to educate the public about the predator.

Greg Skomal, marine fisheries biologist at Martha’s Vineyard Fisheries within the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, said many people tell him they still won't swim in the ocean because of the sheer terror caused by the film.

“I tend to hear the expression that, ‘I haven’t gone in the water since ‘Jaws’ came out,’” he said.

But Skomal, who published a book challenging the film's inaccuracies, said “Jaws” also inspired many people — including him — to study marine biology, leading to increased research, acceptance and respect for the creatures.

If “Jaws” were made today, he doesn't think it'd have the same effect. But in the 1970s, “it was just perfect in terms of generating this level of fear to a public that was largely uneducated about sharks, because we were uneducated. Scientists didn’t know a lot about sharks.”

Skomal said the biggest threat contributing to the decline of the shark population now is commercial fishing, which exploded in the late 1970s and is today driven by high demand for fins and meat used in food dishes, as well as the use of skin to make leather and oil and cartilage for cosmetics.

“I think we’ve really moved away from this feeling, or the old adage that, ‘The only good shark is a dead shark,’” he said. “We’re definitely morphing from fear to fascination, or perhaps a combination of both.”

See an AP photo gallery from around Martha's Vineyard and the start of Pugh's swim here.

An app is used to monitor endurance swimmer Louis Pugh's temperature while he swims in 47 degree F water, Thursday, May 15, 2025, off Edgartown, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Endurance swimmer Louis Pugh swims off the coast pf Edgartown, Mass., Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Endurance swimmer Louis Pugh warms up on the ride back to shore after completing the first leg of his swim around Martha's Vineyard, Thursday, May 15, 2025, off Edgartown, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Endurance swimmer Louis Pugh swims near the Edgartown Harbor Light, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Edgartown, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

A woman views the sunset at Menemsha Beach, Wednesday, May 14, 2025, in Chilmark, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

A man navigates the wake behind the Martha's Vineyard Ferry, Monday, May 12, 2025, in Vineyard Haven, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

A visitor arrives at a shop selling Jaws-related souvenirs, Wednesday, May 14, 2025, in Edgartown, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

A shopper walks past items featuring the Jaws movie at Neptune's Sea Chest gift shop, Monday, May 12, 2025, in Vineyard Haven, Mass., on Martha's Vineyard Island. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh gestures to where he will begin his swim around Martha's Vineyard island, which is expected to take 12 days, near the Edgartown Lighthouse, Monday, May 12, 2025, in Edgartown, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

A family walks to the span of the American Legion Memorial Bridge, also known as the "Jaws Bridge", while spending the day fishing, Monday, May 12, 2025, in Edgartown, Mass., on Martha's Vineyard Island. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)