Sky Sports F1 Channel Temporarily Replaced by Darts for Winter Break

Sky Sports F1, the UK's dedicated Formula 1 channel, has been temporarily taken off air for the winter, replaced by a specialist darts channel. The change comes just six days after the dramatic conclusion of the 2025 season, where Lando Norris clinched his first World Championship by a narrow two-point margin over Max Verstappen at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Why it matters:

This annual channel switch highlights the seasonal nature of F1 broadcasting and the intense competition for airtime on premium sports networks. For dedicated F1 fans in the UK and Ireland, it marks the official start of the off-season, a period where live coverage shifts to archive content and news updates on other Sky Sports channels until pre-season testing begins.

The details:

• Sky Sports has held exclusive F1 broadcasting rights in the UK and Ireland since 2012, making its dedicated channel a primary hub for fans.
• The channel has been replaced by Sky Sports Darts to coincide with the 2026 PDC World Darts Championship, a major sporting event in the UK winter calendar.
• This is the second consecutive year Sky has made this temporary switch, establishing a pattern for the off-season period.
• The darts championship concludes on January 3, 2026, with Sky Sports F1 expected to return to air shortly afterward, well ahead of the typical start of pre-season activities.

The bigger picture:

The channel swap underscores a broader clash of sporting cultures in the UK, where F1's global, technologically advanced spectacle shares a broadcaster with the more traditional, pub-centric world of professional darts. This intersection extends beyond TV schedules, as newly crowned F1 champion Lando Norris finds himself nominated for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award alongside darts' teenage sensation and world number one, Luke Littler. The two athletes, representing vastly different sports, will compete for the same prestigious British sporting honor on December 18, alongside other nominees like golfer Rory McIlroy and England footballers Chloe Kelly and Hannah Hampton.

What's next:

Fans will need to rely on other Sky Sports channels and digital platforms for F1 news during the winter break. The return of the dedicated channel in early January will signal the ramp-up towards the 2026 season, with team launches and pre-season testing on the horizon. All eyes will also be on the Sports Personality of the Year result, which could see a Formula 1 driver win the award for the first time since Lewis Hamilton in 2020.