F1 race ratings: every Grand Prix scored by the audience
Every round of the last two seasons carries its own score out of five, its happiness index and its Driver of the Day vote.
A television number says how many people were in front of the screen. It never says what they thought. Every Grand Prix of the last two seasons is scored here by the people who watched it, one page per round and per season. The gap between two visits to the same circuit is the interesting part.
How is a race rating collected?
Every Grand Prix on this site is scored by the people who watched it, out of five, in the hours after the flag. The same log carries a happiness score out of 100, a Driver of the Day vote, the session watched and the way it was watched.
Nothing is modelled and nothing is weighted after the fact, so a page like Australian Grand Prix 2026 holds the answers of the audience that turned up for that specific weekend.
Each round keeps its own page for its own season, which is why Monaco 2025 and Monaco 2026 are separate readings rather than one running average.
The comparison between the two is the point, since the venue stays and the rule set does not.
Which rounds did the audience rate best in 2026?
The 2026 season splits hard. Barcelona Grand Prix 2026 leads on 3.63 out of five, followed by Austrian Grand Prix 2026 on 3.4, Chinese Grand Prix 2026 on 3.34 and Japanese Grand Prix 2026 on 3.33. At the other end Monaco Grand Prix 2026 reads 2.68, Hungarian Grand Prix 2026 reads 2.76 and Belgian Grand Prix 2026 reads 2.85.
The 2026 calendar reads, in order of running, Australian Grand Prix 2026 at 3.21, Chinese Grand Prix 2026 at 3.34, Japanese Grand Prix 2026 at 3.33, Miami Grand Prix 2026 at 3.33, Canadian Grand Prix 2026 at 3.21, Monaco Grand Prix 2026 at 2.68, Barcelona Grand Prix 2026 at 3.63, Austrian Grand Prix 2026 at 3.4, British Grand Prix 2026 at 3.23, Belgian Grand Prix 2026 at 2.85 and Hungarian Grand Prix 2026 at 2.76.
How does 2026 compare with the 2025 season?
The full 2025 season is measured on the same scale, which makes every venue comparable with itself. British Grand Prix 2025 on 3.99, Brazilian Grand Prix 2025 on 3.94, Australian Grand Prix 2025 on 3.74, Canadian Grand Prix 2025 on 3.6 and Dutch Grand Prix 2025 on 3.58 hold the top of that season.
The bottom belongs to Monaco Grand Prix 2025 on 2.63, Japanese Grand Prix 2025 on 2.76, Qatar Grand Prix 2025 on 2.82, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2025 on 2.96 and Hungarian Grand Prix 2025 on 3.02.
The 2025 calendar reads, in order of running, Australian Grand Prix 2025 at 3.74, Chinese Grand Prix 2025 at 3.44, Japanese Grand Prix 2025 at 2.76, Bahrain Grand Prix 2025 at 3.42, Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2025 at 3.48, Miami Grand Prix 2025 at 3.3, Emilia Romagna Grand Prix 2025 at 3.41, Monaco Grand Prix 2025 at 2.63, Spanish Grand Prix 2025 at 3.5, Canadian Grand Prix 2025 at 3.6, Austrian Grand Prix 2025 at 3.23, British Grand Prix 2025 at 3.99, Belgian Grand Prix 2025 at 3.33, Hungarian Grand Prix 2025 at 3.02, Dutch Grand Prix 2025 at 3.58, Italian Grand Prix 2025 at 3.08, Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2025 at 3.16, Singapore Grand Prix 2025 at 3.36, United States Grand Prix 2025 at 3.48, Mexico City Grand Prix 2025 at 3.53, Brazilian Grand Prix 2025 at 3.94, Las Vegas Grand Prix 2025 at 3.32, Qatar Grand Prix 2025 at 2.82 and Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2025 at 2.96.
Read side by side, the same circuit can swing a full point between seasons. That gap is the argument for keeping one page per round and per season rather than a single rolling score.
It is the reading behind the 2026 mid season review and the verdict on the new regulations.
What does the happy index add to a rating?
The rating says what the audience thought of the racing. The happy index says how it felt while watching, on a scale of 100 and the two do not always agree.
In 2026 Barcelona Grand Prix tops the table at 70 against Monaco Grand Prix at 39, a spread of 31 points inside one rule set.
The 2025 season sets the reference, from Italian Grand Prix at 75 down to Qatar Grand Prix at 39. A promoter reading these two columns together learns something a television number never carries, whether the weekend was enjoyed or merely watched.
Which races produced a runaway Driver of the Day?
Every log carries a Driver of the Day vote. The share the winner takes says as much about the race as the result does. Barcelona Grand Prix 2026 went to Lewis Hamilton with 83.7%, Singapore Grand Prix 2025 went to George Russell with 71%, Japanese Grand Prix 2026 went to Oscar Piastri with 68.5%, Italian Grand Prix 2025 went to Max Verstappen with 66.7%, Japanese Grand Prix 2025 went to Max Verstappen with 63.8% and Emilia Romagna Grand Prix 2025 went to Max Verstappen with 58.8%.
A vote above half the room usually marks a drive the audience agreed on, which is rarer than the highlights suggest.
Which venues gained and which lost between the two seasons?
Ten venues have now been scored in both seasons, which turns each one into its own control group.
Japanese gained 0.57 of a point, from 2.76 in 2025 to 3.33 in 2026, Austrian gained 0.17 of a point, from 3.23 in 2025 to 3.4 in 2026, Monaco gained 0.05 of a point, from 2.63 in 2025 to 2.68 in 2026 and Miami gained 0.03 of a point, from 3.3 in 2025 to 3.33 in 2026.
The other direction is just as clear. British fell 0.76 of a point, from 3.99 to 3.23, Australian fell 0.53 of a point, from 3.74 to 3.21, Belgian fell 0.48 of a point, from 3.33 to 2.85, Canadian fell 0.39 of a point, from 3.6 to 3.21, Hungarian fell 0.26 of a point, from 3.02 to 2.76 and Chinese fell 0.1 of a point, from 3.44 to 3.34. A venue that swings close to a full point in twelve months is telling you something about the format, the weather or the racing.
The review that followed it is in the mid season reading.
Why does a single race score describe nobody?
Every rating carries the team its author supports, which turns one number into several. Across the 23 measurable rounds of 2025 the gap between the happiest and the least happy camp on the same race averages 1.30 points out of five, against 0.48 for country of residence.
On Las Vegas 2025 one audience gave 4.23 and another 2.10 on the same evening.
That is why the pages here are a base layer rather than a verdict. The split by allegiance is set out in the measurement method. A worked example on a single weekend is in the Monaco ratings by team audience.
Where do the season records live?
Four questions get their own permanent page per season. The best rated round is on best rated race of 2026 and best rated race of 2025, the weakest on worst rated race of 2026 and worst rated race of 2025. The happiest weekend has its 2026 page and its 2025 page.
Those pages are refreshed as the season runs rather than duplicated per race, so the answer to a question like which round was best stays on one address instead of scattering across a new page every fortnight.
Which rounds does the audience travel to?
Watching and attending are different questions and the answers rank differently. Comparing the people planning to attend a round with those who would like to and will not, Melbourne converts best at 76.5%, ahead of Silverstone at 61.3% and Suzuka at 59.3%, against a calendar average of 45.7%.
The newest American rounds close the table, Miami at 34.9% and Las Vegas at 28.6%, while carrying the most unconverted interest on the calendar.
A promoter reads those two columns together. The commercial consequence is in what makes an activation stick.
Does the weekend format change the score?
Asked directly, four in five of the audience prefer the classic weekend to any alternative and a majority would remove the sprint. Rounds run to a sprint format do not automatically score worse.
The format changes what people want rather than what they give. The detail is in the regulations verdict and the mid season review.
Broadcast preferences run alongside the ratings and point at the same thing, more of what happens inside the cars.
Seven in ten name driver radio as the first change they would make, well ahead of data overlays, which is set out in what the audience wants from the broadcast and in the streaming and rights reading.
Is there a page per circuit, per team and per driver?
Yes. Every venue measured keeps a permanent page that answers one question, what the audience thought of it, refreshed each time the championship returns. Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 2026, Lusail in 2025, Shanghai International Circuit in 2026, Yas Marina in 2025, Interlagos in 2025, Circuit de Monaco in 2026, Albert Park in 2026 and the Hungaroring in 2026 and 16 more.
The same treatment runs on the people rather than the places. Team by team, Mercedes in 2026, McLaren in 2026, Williams in 2026, Ferrari in 2026, Red Bull Racing in 2026, Haas in 2026, Aston Martin in 2026, VCARB in 2026, Cadillac in 2026 and Audi in 2026. Driver by driver, Oscar Piastri in 2026, Lando Norris in 2026, Lewis Hamilton in 2026, Alex Albon in 2026, Max Verstappen in 2026, Charles Leclerc in 2026, Carlos Sainz in 2026, George Russell in 2026, Fernando Alonso in 2026, Kimi Antonelli in 2026 and Yuki Tsunoda in 2026.
What are these ratings used for?
The ratings are the base layer of every commercial reading on this site. Cut by the team each member supports, they show that a single race score describes nobody, which is the method piece behind measuring sponsorship in this sport. Cut by market, they feed the audience composition of each team.
The same logs feed the sponsor work, from what F1 sponsorship costs and what it buys and how sponsorship works on this grid to which activations stick. Brand by brand, the recall numbers live on the sponsor recall index.
Race specific readings run alongside, including the 2026 Monaco ratings, the same weekend split by team audience and what the audience wants changed in the broadcast.
Frequently asked questions
What was the best rated F1 race of 2026?
Barcelona Grand Prix at 3.63 out of five, with a happiness index of 70 out of 100.
What was the worst rated F1 race of 2026?
Monaco Grand Prix at 2.68 out of five.
How are F1 race ratings collected?
Each member scores the round out of five in the hours after the flag, alongside a happiness score out of 100 and a Driver of the Day vote. Nothing is modelled or weighted afterwards.
Can two seasons of the same Grand Prix be compared?
Yes. Each round keeps a separate page per season, so the same venue can be read against itself, which is where the effect of a rule change shows up.
What is the happy index?
A score out of 100 for how the audience felt during the weekend, collected with the rating. A race can score well on one and poorly on the other.
Want this reading on your own brand?
The full report behind this article, with the split by team audience, market composition and the change across the season, is available to teams, brands and agencies.
Source: BoxBoxd, the motorsport social network. Race ratings are collected on the weekend of each round, scored out of five alongside a happiness index out of 100 and a Driver of the Day vote.