How to watch F1 on ESPN with friends across the country
Most American races start before breakfast. Open ESPN, share one link and the room watches the same second from three time zones.
A Grand Prix on ESPN often lands at seven in the morning on the east coast and four on the west. Half a friend group is awake, the other half is watching the replay at noon, and nobody sees the same lap at the same time.
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CoViewer is a free extension made by BoxBoxd. It holds every picture on the same second and puts a chat beside the video. It never rebroadcasts anything, so each person watches on their own subscription.
The setup, six steps
Add CoViewer to Chrome
It is free and it takes one click from the Chrome Web Store. There is no account to create, no card, nothing to configure. The extension does nothing until a race is on your screen.
Open the race on the broadcast you already pay for
F1 TV, Canal+, Sky Sports, DAZN, ESPN, Viaplay, Apple TV, RTL, Kayo, Fox Sports, Sky Italia, NOW, WOW, YouTube or Twitch. Everyone in the room keeps their own subscription and their own commentary language. Nothing is ever rebroadcast.
Let it recognise the session
CoViewer reads the page title and the player to work out which Grand Prix and which session you opened. When it is sure, the launcher appears at the edge of the video. If you are watching something else, it stays quiet.
Create the room and copy the link
One click creates the party and gives you a short link. Send it in the group chat, by message or by mail. The room is yours, you are the host and playback follows you.
Your friends open the link
The link explains the two steps, adding the extension and opening their own broadcast. They join with the same code and appear in the room within seconds, wherever they are and whoever they watch with.
Watch the race together
The sidebar opens next to the video with the chat, the reactions, the live standings and the room. At the flag you rate the race and pick your driver of the day and it posts to your BoxBoxd profile.
The detail that counts here
The room handles both cases. On the live feed play and pause travel, on a replay the room shares the exact timestamp so a party can start six hours late and stay together to the second.
How does the sync hold?
The host sends the playback position to the room every three seconds. Each viewer compares that position to their own player and corrects the difference quietly.
A gap under two seconds is closed by nudging the playback speed by five percent for a moment, so nobody sees a jump. Past two seconds the player seeks straight to the right place. On a live broadcast only play and pause travel, because a live stream carries its own clock.
Ad breaks are handled too. When one person hits an ad break, the room waits and resumes when everyone is back on the race. That single detail is what usually breaks a watch party built for films.
What time the races start in the eastern United States
Of the 23 races on the 2026 calendar, 6 start before nine in the morning in the eastern United States and 5 fall between ten at night and six in the morning. The earliest is the Japanese Grand Prix at 01:00, the latest the Australian Grand Prix at 23:00.
Those are the weekends where a group watches alone by default, because the people who would normally be on the sofa are asleep or three time zones away. A room is the cheap fix, since everyone keeps the feed they already pay for.
| Grand Prix | Local date | New York | Chicago | Los Angeles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Grand Prix | Sat 7 Mar | 23:00 | 22:00 | 20:00 |
| Chinese Grand Prix | Sun 15 Mar | 03:00 | 02:00 | 00:00 |
| Japanese Grand Prix | Sun 29 Mar | 01:00 | 00:00 | 22:00 |
| Miami Grand Prix | Sun 3 May | 16:00 | 15:00 | 13:00 |
| Canadian Grand Prix | Sun 24 May | 16:00 | 15:00 | 13:00 |
| Monaco Grand Prix | Sun 7 Jun | 09:00 | 08:00 | 06:00 |
| Barcelona Grand Prix | Sun 14 Jun | 09:00 | 08:00 | 06:00 |
| Austrian Grand Prix | Sun 28 Jun | 09:00 | 08:00 | 06:00 |
| British Grand Prix | Sun 5 Jul | 10:00 | 09:00 | 07:00 |
| Belgian Grand Prix | Sun 19 Jul | 09:00 | 08:00 | 06:00 |
| Hungarian Grand Prix | Sun 26 Jul | 09:00 | 08:00 | 06:00 |
| Dutch Grand Prix | Sun 23 Aug | 09:00 | 08:00 | 06:00 |
| Italian Grand Prix | Sun 6 Sept | 09:00 | 08:00 | 06:00 |
| Spanish Grand Prix | Sun 13 Sept | 09:00 | 08:00 | 06:00 |
| Azerbaijan Grand Prix | Sat 26 Sept | 07:00 | 06:00 | 04:00 |
| Bahrain Grand Prix | Sun 4 Oct | 03:00 | 02:00 | 00:00 |
| Singapore Grand Prix | Sun 11 Oct | 08:00 | 07:00 | 05:00 |
| United States Grand Prix | Sun 25 Oct | 16:00 | 15:00 | 13:00 |
| Mexico City Grand Prix | Sun 1 Nov | 15:00 | 14:00 | 12:00 |
| Brazilian Grand Prix | Sun 8 Nov | 12:00 | 11:00 | 09:00 |
| Las Vegas Grand Prix | Sat 21 Nov | 23:00 | 22:00 | 20:00 |
| Qatar Grand Prix | Sun 29 Nov | 11:00 | 10:00 | 08:00 |
| Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | Sun 6 Dec | 08:00 | 07:00 | 05:00 |
Frequently asked questions
What time does the F1 race start in the eastern United States?
It moves with the calendar. Across the 23 races of 2026, 6 start before nine in the morning local time and 5 run between ten at night and six in the morning. The earliest is the Japanese Grand Prix at 01:00 and the latest the Australian Grand Prix at 23:00.
Can you watch F1 with friends on ESPN?
Yes. Each person opens the race on their own ESPN account, one person creates the room and shares the link. The CoViewer extension keeps the players in sync.
Do we all need the same subscription?
No. Everyone watches on the service they already pay for, in their own language. Only the playback position travels between browsers.
Is there a limit on how many people can join?
No and the extension and rooms are free.
CoViewer is free, it takes about a minute to set up and it runs on the broadcast you already pay for.
CoViewer is made by BoxBoxd, the motorsport social network where fans rate every Grand Prix. The extension keeps playback in sync between people who each watch on their own subscription. It never rebroadcasts a stream. Questions at partnerships@boxboxd.fun.